I went to check out the Andy Warhol exhibit at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.  It’s been a century since I was last in there.  I do always enjoy the gift shop.   I learned a lot more about Andy Warhol, I admittedly knew very little to start with.  By the end, I respected him as a business man more than anything else.  He admitted that the reason he liked the silk screen printing process was so that he could make more paintings and the technique facilitated the use of his assistants.  His boxes which were exact replicas of grocery items were another attempt to sell mass quantities of his products.  He figured people would buy them and stack them up.  It was neat seeing a well-known artist’s work who walked the Earth at a time I existed as well.  Usually great art is from centuries past.

I highly recommend that if you go there you pick up an ipod from the gift shop that has tracks related to the feature artist and their work.  It helps a lot.

One of the first real attempts at a computer animated movie for older audiences.  I didn’t even know that the entire movie was animated, I figured certain scenes would be.  Technology was pretty good, the faces were well done but I found some bodies to be a little clumsy.  Other scenes were really good like the castle from far away, the battle, and water and fire in general.

The actual story was a little “meh” though.

878 Ellice Ave

The doubles here were great.  I tried ginger beer (non-alcoholic) and didn’t really enjoy that.  I had the conch roti wrap.  Conch is very much like octopus or any kind of cartilage.  I don’t always enjoy Caribbean food I find it has too strong dahl (lentil) flavours.

The service and setting were nice though.  One of those laid back restaurants that you can sit around and talk without being pushed out of your table.

Read your quls before/during this movie. If not your quls, bring along your rosary or holy water or something. I’m not sure if you all noticed or not but I don’t watch scary movies. I hate scary movies. I don’t watch SAW anything or Resident anything. I’m sure all of your tolerances are more heightened than mine but I was having a really tough time. Throughout the movie I was thinking “sh*t… sh*t… crap… sh*t…” and probably verbalized at some point. I know I told Tipu repeatedly “I don’t like this” while gripping his arm.

I was tortured but I was convinced. This movie is tight. It’s based on a book. I think some are really upset because like most cases the book is better/different. Will Smith is absolutely amazing. There’s this one scene where you just see his face and he’s doing something really difficult but all you can see is his face and it’s so expressive and detailed and professional.

Like I said, I don’t really watch these kind of movies and so perhaps some of you will not enjoy or even be affected by this movie but I definitely was. This movie isn’t the first time messing around with genes/viruses etc has been converted into doomsday. I wonder what’s going on that has those in Arts so scared stupid with this work in Science. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a fan either. I’m pretty concerned about how genetic technology is going to play out but we’ve all accepted the genetically modified tomato. We’ve accepted it reluctantly and great efforts were made to leave it unlabeled as such. I guess scientists will have a lot of convincing to do before gene messing is thought of as positively. I’m not sure if David Suzuki will be helping any either. That’s how it should be though. One has to debate and convince people that their technological accomplishments are safe and not just expect approval because it’s possible.

The whole time I was like sh*t this could so happen. I would so not make it. The last movie I saw that made me feel this way was Johnny Mneumonic.

I recently started going to Starbucks. In the past I was never interested because coffee made me ill. I’ve recently discovered it’s the caffeinated stuff that turns me inside out. I can actually handle decaf. My first drink was at the Dafoe library and it was a mocha peppermint latte. My next drinks (gingerbread latte and eggnog latte) were at the Starbucks across the street. I didn’t like those as much because I hate nutmeg. I also had a trial cup of peppermint white chocolate that went well. I was originally intimidated by all the different variations of the drinks they offered but now I appreciate the non-fat and reduced fat options. I will also like to try the no sugar options soon. Their peanut butter cookie is consistently chewy in the middle and flaky good on the outside. That caramel volcano thing you need with milk. The pretzel dipped in chocolate looks generic but it has chewy caramel which makes it amazing.

I’ve spent hours there doing laptop work since something in the cleanroom is busted. I’ve enjoyed slipping in and out of people’s conversations while doing my work. There was this guy who works for Air Canada doing stock trading for hours. There was this other guy talking about real estate. This woman came and got tax advice. There were tons of dreary eyed students studying for finals. A lawyer came to prepare for his upcoming five hour meeting. It’s an interesting place. I don’t see myself there any more for a while though. I tire easily.