Waiting for the Buyer
Well the sign's been up for 10 days now, our house has been visited about 10 times (including the open house when we were in Montreal last weekend) and I've been questioned outside while shovelling the snow by passerbys in SUV's...
Sell already, dammit!!!
Well, if you can't bomb Paris
...just send your businesses in to take over.
Some telling comments from the fray:
From Starbuck's CEO:
"Our success in other countries does not provide us with an entitlement to be successful in France," Schultz said.
Quite a refreshing attitude. But in private I'm sure they're already planning their next steps after crushing the competition.
From the competition:
"Starbucks is not going to compete with the French cafe," he said. "The cafe isn't just somewhere to drink coffee, it's a place where people go for social contact. In a big place with hundreds of customers that's more difficult."
And I thought that the two Starbucks on opposite corners of Burrard and Robson St in downtown Vancouver was a really stupid idea too. Until I found out those locations were the highest grossing for the chain.
I think the French are about to undergo yet another American marketing assault.
Some are realists though:
But he cheerfully accepts that the coming of the global coffee behemoth could spell the most serious threat so far to his company's decade-long existence.
"It's a bit like going into a nuclear war with a knife," he said of the competition.
"It's a bit like going into a nuclear war with a knife," he said of the competition.
Movies
100 movies... bold the ones you've seen.
1. Godfather, The (1972)
2. Shawshank Redemption, The (1994)
3. Godfather: Part II, The (1974)
4. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The (2003)
5. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The (2002)
6. Casablanca (1942)
7. Schindler's List (1993)
8. Shichinin no samurai (1954)
9. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001)
10. Citizen Kane (1941)
11. Star Wars (1977)
12. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
13. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
14. Rear Window (1954)
15. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
16. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
17. Memento (2000)
18. Usual Suspects, The (1995)
19. Pulp Fiction (1994)
20. North by Northwest (1959)
21. Fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain, Le (2001)
22. Psycho (1960)
23. 12 Angry Men (1957)
24. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
25. Silence of the Lambs, The (1991)
26. Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il (1966)
27. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
28. Goodfellas (1990)
29. American Beauty (1999)
30. Vertigo (1958)
31. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
32. Pianist, The (2002)
33. Matrix, The (1999)
34. Apocalypse Now (1979)
35. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
36. Some Like It Hot (1959)
37. Taxi Driver (1976)
38. Paths of Glory (1957)
39. Third Man, The (1949)
40. C'era una volta il West (1968)
41. Fight Club (1999)
42. Boot, Das (1981)
43. Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001) (Spirited Away)
44. Double Indemnity (1944)
45. L.A. Confidential (1997)
46. Chinatown (1974)
47. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
48. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
49. Maltese Falcon, The (1941)
50. M (1931)
51. All About Eve (1950)
52. Bridge on the River Kwai, The (1957)
53. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
54. Se7en (1995)
55. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
56. Cidade de Deus (2002)
57. Raging Bull (1980)
58. Wizard of Oz, The (1939)
59. Rash?mon (1950)
60. Sting, The (1973)
61. American History X (1998)
62. Alien (1979)
63. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
64. Leon (The Professional) (1994)
65. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
66. Vita bella, La (1997) (Life Is Beautiful)
67. Touch of Evil (1958)
68. Manchurian Candidate, The (1962)
69. Wo hu cang long (2000) (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon)
70. Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (1948)
71. Great Escape, The (1963)
72. Clockwork Orange, A (1971)
73. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
74. Annie Hall (1977)
75. Amadeus (1984)
76. Jaws (1975)
77. Ran (1985)
78. On the Waterfront (1954)
79. Modern Times (1936)
80. High Noon (1952)
81. Braveheart (1995)
82. Apartment, The (1960)
83. Sixth Sense, The (1999)
84. Fargo (1996)
85. Aliens (1986)
86. Shining, The (1980)
87. Blade Runner (1982)
88. Strangers on a Train (1951)
89. Duck Soup (1933)
90. Metropolis (1927)
91. Finding Nemo (2003)
92. Donnie Darko (2001)
93. Toy Story 2 (1999)
94. Princess Bride, The (1987)
95. General, The (1927)
96. City Lights (1931)
97. Lola rennt (1998) (Run Lola Run)
98. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
99. Notorious (1946)
100. Sjunde inseglet, Det (1957)
66 out of a hundred. Not bad. And there are several like North by Northwest and Notorious that I might have seen but didn't think was fair to count.
via Rilana
Stuff
I'm looking around the downstairs at the crappy collection of out of date software, cheap castoff office furniture and formerly middle to high-end computer equipment.
Geez did I waste a lot of money. I'll now have to decided what needs to be tossed out for the upcoming move...
Momentum Building
Our house is going up for sale January 7.
It's actually happening. I don't know why, but it didn't seem real until today...
Woo-hoo!
Blogrolling
When is Blogrolling EVER coming back online?
I'm noticing a pickup in traffic lately- either people are enjoying my neuroses or it could have something to do with the shameless use of the words "paris" and "hilton" in earlier postings - whatever the reasons I want to use Blogrolling to see if anyone has linked to me...but it's down and has been for some time. I hadn't realized how many times I used their search functions in a week...
So if anyone's linked to me in the past few weeks, please drop me a line via the comments to this entry or via the email link top right of this page and say hello- that includes you Typepad people too! Does anyone know if Typepad has a link-tracking search like Blogrolling does? When it's working, I mean.
Conundrum
If I check my lottery tickets now, before I go to sleep...and I win...I'll be too excited and I won't get any sleep.
If I lose, I'll be pissed at myself for wasting money...and I won't get any sleep.
Sometimes ignorance is bliss.
Lowlife
Which Typical Anti-Hero Are You?
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Maybe if he hadn't cheated on her...
Lonely Hawke Worries Pals
Recently-separated movie hunk Ethan Hawke has become so depressed and withdrawn since his split from wife Uma Thurman, pals are fearing for his health.
Maybe he shouldn't have cheated on her.
The Training Day actor split with the Kill Bill beauty in September after he was caught cheating on her with model Jen Perzow on the Canadian set of upcoming movie Taking Lives.
Poor Ethan. Married to Uma and he cheats on her and now he feels bad. Poor boy!
After unsuccessfully trying to woo back the mother of his two children
What? She didn't fall for the "I promise I'll never do that again" crap.
Ethan has had to rely on his pet dog for company - while Uma enjoys a romantic holiday with new love Andre Balzas. Spies in Hawke's native New York have spotted the lonely star dining out with his pet pooch and then pouring out his troubles to a pal while walking the mutt in the trendy Chelsea district, saying it was a "really painful breakup".
Waaaaaaahhhh! How long before he's out playing fetch with some young pretty dog, cheating on his old, faithful pooch?
Also, sources on Hawke's new film Billy Dead have told gossip website Page Six.com he is so down that he is failing to return phone calls and finding it difficult to concentrate. Hawke and Thurman married in 1998 after meeting on the set of sci-fi thriller Gattaca.
Sorry chump. You messed up. At least be a man about it instead of whining in public. looking for sympathy. And nice friends you got there, spilling all your stuff to the press.
I'm supposed to feel sorry for a loser who chooses to screw around on his wife and mother of his two children? Boo-fucking-Hoo!
I respect Uma a LOT more for not taking him back...
Too Far?
Uproar Over Disney Parade Float
The Walt Disney Co. was being taken to task Tuesday for its plan to present a float titled the "Twilight Zone Tower of Terror" during the Rose Parade in Pasadena Thursday. The float, which depicts a Disney theme park ride in which a hotel skyscraper is struck by lightning and an earthquake, resulting in an elevator falling from the top level, was particularly criticized by relatives of victims of the 9/11 tragedy, the Associated Press reported.
The Walt Disney Co. was being taken to task Tuesday for its plan to present a float titled the "Twilight Zone Tower of Terror" during the Rose Parade in Pasadena Thursday. The float, which depicts a Disney theme park ride in which a hotel skyscraper is struck by lightning and an earthquake, resulting in an elevator falling from the top level, was particularly criticized by relatives of victims of the 9/11 tragedy, the Associated Press reported.
This was based on an amusement park ride and had nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism, crashing airliners, or the World Trade Center. Why would the 9/11 relatives have a problem with this? Well, I guess anything depicting danger in tall buildings could be disturbing to the survivors/relatives but at some point society has to say enough, we've done realistically enough to spare the feelings of the victims. Some censures just go too far.
From what I can tell "Tower of Terror" doesnt' have any kind of political message...It's not making light of 9/11 or saying that the U.S. got what it deserved like a lot of the crap that's been spewed onto the net...It's just a scary movie, kinda like The Towering Inferno. At what point did our society become too delicate to tolerate things that "kinda sorta" remind people of historic events.
Tall buildings scare a lot of people. My first real job gave me a window seat on the 23rd floor in downtown Vancouver. I was repelled and yet drawn to push my face up against the glass, scared and yet thrilled that the glass might break - must we ALL be forced to avert our eyes from the things that scare us because some have suffered great personal tragedies involving these everyday things?
Why was Die Hard so much better than Die Hard 2? Easy answer. The fact that action/suspense/horror played out in tall buildings is much scarier, because of that primal fear of not being able to escape; which is probably why the Airport series of movies did so well, also. Don't get me wrong. I have nothing but sympathy for the victims and their families of September 11th. I just don't see how every story about danger in a tall building is somehow being insensitive to them...
I'm sure that the survivors of the Titanic were sensitive about stories depicting the sinking of ships...However I doubt if there was a loud cry to stop sea stories on that basis. I think that they'd just choose not to see them.
I'm sure that someone out there is probably going to take offense at this post. If so, please know that this is not my intent; but at some point we have to stop taking offense at the most remote connection that some form of entertainment may have to the tragic events that happen all around us.
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