Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in sidslang's LiveJournal:

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Saturday, March 7th, 2009
2:04 pm	Overheard in the line outside the theatre for Watchmen yesterday afternoon: "All of these people are here to see Street Fighter, right?" It's quite good, btw. Watchmen, not Street Fighter. Some of the underpinnings of moral philosophy get skimmed over, but one had to expect that from the guy who made 300. A solid piece of work, though... Current Mood: blah Current Music: U2 - I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Comment on this)
Saturday, December 20th, 2008
5:09 pm	I don't wanna stay to die here... In four days, I'm leaving Edmonton and flying out to Ontario's Golden Horseshoe to start a new life. Probably won't ever live out here again. It's exciting and frightening and cool and sad. There's a song by an amazing local band that I love called the Wheat Pool that gets to the soul of how I feel about this move. It's called "Phone Book". In point of fact, it's about leaving a relationship that once meant a lot but is now wearing the narrator down, and finally about meeting someone who saved them from the downward spiral. I'm in quite an opposing position at the moment in my own relationship (really, its remarkable strength and security is driving the move), but I imagine it as being sung to a city that was once home (and still is, in many ways) but has worn out its welcome and worn down the one who loves it. And for me, that city is Edmonton. ( Words ) Dunno how many of you can identify, but when they get to "Boy, you're lookin' bad", you gotta let a sniffle get through, at least... See you on the other side... (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
4:15 pm	There was one moment in the midst of last night's televised jubilation from Grant Park in Chicago that cut me to pieces, and I can't totally explain why. Amongst all of the exhilarated Obama supporters as thrilled as they were stunned that, finally, the good guys won, I caught one face: Jesse Jackson, in tears.  Of all the indelible moments of the historic night, that one will likely always stick with me, I think. It's right at the heart of what the words "President-Elect Obama" mean, politically, socially, culturally, historically. Put aside the shared skin pigmentation of Jackson and Obama (and it's America, so you never really can), and here's a man who tried and failed to make just the sort of change Obama represents. He stood in not only for the millions of African-Americans, past and present, alive and dead, who have finally been vindicated in a profound symbolic way by this victory, but also for the litany of "failed" progressives who litter recent American political history. Adlai Stevenson, George McGovern, Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, the Kennedys, the Clintons (arguably a lone success), Al Gore, John Kerry... the list goes on. Decent, patriotic, intelligent, empathetic, true people who wanted to make their country a better and fairer place to live and were punished for this desire. They were eviscerated, villified and sometimes outright destroyed or even killed by the decades-old conservative power-machine, but their defeats and mistakes and failures helped to steel Obama's will and lit his path to the White House. He learned from his peers and predecessors, and used what he learned to great effect, sitting back with a calm smile as the  Republican snake devoured its own tail. But they really made it possible. Jesse Jackson was one of them, and here he was, tears in his eyes, as magic happened. I listened to Josh Ritter's The Animal Years on my way back home after watching Obama's triumph. I sure apply it to a lot of situations, but it's certainly an Obama kind of album. "I woke beneath a clear blue sky", indeed... Current Music: Josh Ritter - Monster Ballads (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, October 16th, 2008
8:54 pm	Sooner or later, I will mess up every single thing in my life.  And there doesn't seem to be anything that I can do about it. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, October 11th, 2008
12:39 pm	His font got serifs goddam... Current Music: Matt Mays & El Torpedo - "Terminal Romance" (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008
4:37 pm	Four things: 1. I have to go to jury selection next week.  Ugh.  Being a responsible citizen sucks.  Although my own boss suggested I convince them I'm a huge racist bigot.  Sometimes, my job is so hilarious I want to stay there forever, just to see what else happens. 2. It's my birthday tomorrow.  27 years old.  And most days, I feel every one of them.  No more of this "I'm in my mid-20s" cop-out shite... I'm late-20s and no joke.  Mortality time, bitches. 3. Because it's my birthday, it means Liz and I have been together for a year.  A. Year.  Madness.  But it still feels so right. 4. It's basically official, so there's no point being coy about it: come Christmastime, I'm going with Liz when she moves back to Ontario.  No job, no place to live... no problem.  We'll stay at her parents' place in Mississauga until we get settled with employment and accommodation (likely in Toronto or its environs, though Ottawa is a possibility if we can get jobs there), which would be more problematic if they weren't likely to be away in Ottawa where her mom works most of the time these days, leaving us with a very nice and very empty house.  It's a massive step and it's terrifying and I'm hugely worried about failing completely because I really always am.  But it seems like an entirely logical step.  And though I want to find a job that pays well and I like going to every day, it almost doesn't matter, as long as I'm with her.  And that's a nice place to be. Current Mood: rushed Current Music: Damien Jurado - Best Dress (10 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, August 25th, 2008
1:01 pm	"Your sister... she is single?" ( My last few days in point-form... ) Current Mood: exanimate Current Music: Kevin Drew - Backed Out on the... (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, June 30th, 2008
12:53 am	( Movie yakkin' (from Lisa)... ) (Comment on this)
Friday, June 20th, 2008
11:01 am	Ian Ball (of Gomez) - "Sweet Sweet Sleep" That is all. (Comment on this)
Monday, June 9th, 2008
1:12 pm	1. Reply to this post and I'll assign you a letter. 2. List (and upload, if you feel like it) 5 songs that start with that letter. 3. Post them to your journal with these instructions. Ankle is an evil, sexy, evilsexy man... so he gave me Z. 1) Doves - Zither 2) Mew - The Zookeeper's Boy 3) Ben Folds - Zak and Sara 4) Gomez - ZYX 5) Smashing Pumpkins - Zero Current Music: Smashing Pumpkins - Rocket (Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
4:58 pm	More erudition from the conference centre crew... "Ron offered me a bite-sized chocolate, so I ate the whole thing.  Then he was all annoyed because I ate it all.  I had been on midnight shifts for three weeks, so I was getting a little weird.  So... I threw him down and kicked him in the ribs." - Adam Grubb describes a friendly assault on Ron (aka the Dope-Smoking Squirrel).  The supervisor, btw, saw it, came right over, and congratulated him for his good work, then wrote "Good attitude by Mr. Grubb tonight" in the log book "I'd eat bull penis.  I mean... it's meat." - Mack Cox (yes, that's his real name and no, it's not short for something else) "My son, he comes up to me and says, "Dad, God is bullshit.'  And I go, 'Ahh!  I am in culture shock now!'" - the gnomic Liban, who quit recently to become Somalia's Education Minister.  Like... actually. "In the two months I was away from here, I went through four cell phones.  Three of them Blackberries.  I just get bored with them..." - Jimmy the Kid, who also just got a $700+ tattoo "Don't make me get the OPP on the talk banana!  Bundle it down, boys!" - I try to make sense of some Ontario slang "She's in the corner, and I'm pissing on her, and she's like, 'ahhhhh!!!!'" - Laurent, the Quebecois Steve-O, describes some of his less family-friendly amateur film work Edwin (Ghananian-Canadian brutha #1): "Yo, what kinda printer you got?" Justin (Ghananian-Canadian brutha #2): "...Hewlett-Packard." Edwin: "Shit, nigga!" And this is the place that is rather highly likely to promote me to supervisor fairly soon, if all falls into place.  I sometimes tell myself there might be a novel to be written from these experiences... but who would read it besides us? Current Mood: satisfied Current Music: Oasis - Cigarettes & Alcohol (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, April 7th, 2008
6:37 pm	Go here ( http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1992.htm ) and change the number in the URL to reflect the year you graduated high school to get the top 100 songs of that year. Strike through the songs you hate(d). Bold the songs you love(d). Underline the songs you like(d). Leave blank those you don’t care about or don’t remember. Top 100 Hits of 1999/Top 100 Songs of 1999 1. Believe, Cher 2. No Scrubs, TLC 3. Angel Of Mine, Monica 4. Heartbreak Hotel, Whitney Houston 5. ...Baby One More Time, Britney Spears 6. Kiss Me, Sixpence None The Richer (It was kinda cute, what can I say?) 7. Genie In A Bottle, Christina Aguilera 8. Every Morning, Sugar Ray 9. Nobody's Supposed To Be Here, Deborah Cox 10. Livin' La Vida Loca, Ricky Martin 11. Where My Girls At?, 702 12. If You Had My Love, Jennifer Lopez 13. Slide, Goo Goo Dolls 14. Have You Ever?, Brandy 15. I Want It That Way, Backstreet Boys 16. I'm Your Angel, R. Kelly and Celine Dion 17. All Star, Smash Mouth 18. Angel, Sarah McLachlan 19. Smooth, Santana Featuring Rob Thomas 20. Unpretty, TLC 21. Bills, Bills, Bills, Destiny's Child ("Automobills".  Genius.) 22. Save Tonight, Eagle-Eye Cherry 23. Last Kiss, Pearl Jam 24. Fortunate, Maxwell 25. All I Have To Give, Backstreet Boys 26. Bailamos, Enrique Iglesias 27. What's It Gonna Be?!, Busta Rhymes Featuring Janet 28. What It's Like, Everlast 29. Fly Away, Lenny Kravitz 30. Someday, Sugar Ray 31. Lately, Divine 32. That Don't Impress Me Much, Shania Twain 33. Wild Wild West, Will Smith Featuring Dru Hill and Kool Moe Dee 34. Scar Tissue, Red Hot Chili Peppers (But I hate them now) 35. Heartbreaker, Mariah Carey Featuring Jay-Z 36. I Still Believe, Mariah Carey 37. The Hardest Thing, 98 Degrees 38. Summer Girls, LFO 39. Can I Get A..., Jay-Z Featuring Amil (Of Major Coinz) and Ja 40. Jumper, Third Eye Blind 41. Doo Wop (That Thing), Lauryn Hill 42. Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of...), Lou Bega 43. Sweet Lady, Tyrese 44. It's Not Right But It's Okay, Whitney Houston 45. (God Must Have Spent) A Little More Time On You, 'N Sync (One of the worst songs ever.  This is why I still refuse to give Timberlake the time of day, sorry) 46. Lullaby, Shawn Mullins 47. Anywhere, 112 Featuring Lil'Z 48. Tell Me It's Real, K-Ci and JoJo 49. Back 2 Good, Matchbox 20 50. 808, Blaque 51. She's So High, Tal Bachman 52. She's All I Ever Had, Ricky Martin (Sappy, but the quasi-sitar guitar bit was neat) 53. Miami, Will Smith 54. Hands, Jewel 55. Who Dat, JT Money Featuring Sole 56. Please Remember Me, Tim McGraw 57. From This Moment On, Shania Twain 58. Love Like This, Faith Evans (Was this the rollerskating video?  If so, the tune was sort of okay...) 59. You, Jesse Powell 60. Trippin', Total Featuring Missy Elliott 61. If You (Lovin' Me), Silk 62. Ex-Factor, Lauryn Hill 63. Give It To You, Jordan Knight 64. Black Balloon, Goo Goo Dolls 65. Spend My Life With You, Eric Benet Featuring Tamia (I used to think Tamia was hot, that I remember) 66. These Are The Times, Dru Hill 67. I Don't Want To Miss A Thing, Mark Chesnutt 68. I Do (Cherish You), 98 Degrees 69. Because Of You, 98 Degrees 70. I Will Remember You (Live), Sarah McLachlan 71. Chante's Got A Man, Chante Moore 72. Happily Ever After, Case 73. My Love Is Your Love, Whitney Houston 74. All Night Long, Faith Evans Featuring Puff Daddy 75. Back That Thang Up, Juvenile Featuring Mannie Fresh and Lil' Wayne (How can you not love that title?) 76. Almost Doesn't Count, Brandy 77. Man! I Feel Like A Woman!, Shania Twain 78. Steal My Sunshine, Len (And you did too, admit it.) 79. I Need To Know, Marc Anthony 80. So Anxious, Ginuwine 81. Faded Pictures, Case and Joe 82. Back At One, Brian McKnight 83. When A Woman's Fed Up, R. Kelly 84. How Forever Feels, Kenny Chesney 85. Amazed, Lonestar 86. Sometimes, Britney Spears 87. Ghetto Cowboy, Mo Thugs Family Featuring Bone Thugs-N-Harmony 88. Out Of My Head, Fastball 89. Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem), Jay-Z (I like Jigga now, but holy hell did I hate this...) 90. Jamboree, Naughty By Nature Featuring Zhane 91. Take Me There, BLACKstreet and Mya Featuring Mase and Blinky Blink 92. Stay The Same, Joey McIntyre 93. Lesson In Leavin', Jo Dee Messina 94. Iris, Goo Goo Dolls 95. Satisfy You, Puff Daddy Featuring R. Kelly 96. Better Days (And The Bottom Drops Out), Citizen King 97. Music Of My Heart, 'N Sync and Gloria Estefan 98. Write This Down, George Strait 99. When You Believe, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey 100. God Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You, Alabama Featuring 'N Sync Current Mood: mellow Current Music: "The White Rider" from The Two Towers score (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008
4:02 pm	How I'm Feeling At The Moment Bring them home Watch them go All you know is you hope they'll hurry back Then you cry and you lie your frail body down like a penny on a railroad track And even if they stay in touch the past stays in the past And every time you crash a little bit harder than the last Harvey Danger "Little Round Mirrors" Little By Little 2005 (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, February 14th, 2008
11:49 pm	Someone whispered in my ear, "It's not like it was before"... Since most of the rabid Joel Plaskett fans I know are on my LJ flist, I figured I'd put this here.  The gregarious Matthew at I Heart Music posted bootleg mp3s of the Dec. 15 / 07 Plaskett show at the Horseshoe Tavern (get it here before it disappears, which it will), which most of you were at, losing your damned minds.  This was the show at which Gord Downie and Sarah Harmer made appearances, and I well recall getting frantic phone calls from dointhepanic on both of those occasions.  Now, I get to hear it in its full glory... So if'n you like, follow the link and enjoy it yourselves... Toronto in less than three weeks!  Yay! Current Mood: geeky Current Music: Joel Plaskett Emergency - Lyin' on a Beach (Live at the 'Shoe) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, January 14th, 2008
2:12 pm	It was almost like a home of sorts or something... So Liz has moved in with me.  She already kinda lived here, so this is merely making an unofficial reality an official one.  This is your forum to express joy and/or alarm at this development.  I have heard a lot of both, but don't feel you'll be piling on one way or the other... Also, I'm hitting up Toronto again, March 4th to 9th.  Mainly for CMW and friend hangouts (and JOSH RITTER with dointhepanic), but Liz's parents want to meet me, too.  Did I mention Liz isn't coming?  That should be fun and not at all deeply awkward and/or uncomfortable.  Can't I visit that damned city without those things nipping at my heels the better part of the time?  Lik srsly. Anyway, most of you knew that... but making sure your friends are aware of every sordid detail of your private life is what teh Eljay is for, no? Furthermore, my brain hurts.  Ouch. Current Mood: drained Current Music: Monty Python - Lumberjack Song (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, December 28th, 2007
7:43 pm	Fade out again... I tried to do the year-end meme that short_fingers   did, but it clearly hated me, whether I used the rich text or HMTLed it all.  Those things frustrate me beyond belief when they refuse to work.  youisfunny   will laugh at me.  ANYWAY, a substitute year-ender, which I also did last year... ( Don't read this if you don't want to... but I know you do. ) Current Mood: nostalgic Current Music: Pilate - Melt Into The Walls (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, December 20th, 2007
12:25 pm	Another year hath come and gone... For your perusing pleasure, the year-end musical lists from Rossblog: Top Albums of 2007 Top Singles of 2007 Top Concerts of 2007 Enjoy 'em. In other news, Liz is back in Ontario for the holidays.  I miss her.  I think it's fair to say we're rather in love.  Blissful sighs. Current Mood: sore Current Music: U2 - Like A Song... (10 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, December 3rd, 2007
8:00 pm	Always on the outside, always looking in... So Brent and dointhepanic came up from Calgary to visit on Saturday and it was SO awesome to see them and we went to record stores and ate at Da-De-O and looked at crafty fairs and laughed and hugged and they met Liz and thought she was wonderful and bowl-of-muffin-esque and she was struck by how simultaneously cool and bizarre my friends are and then and then and then... I feel good, if you didn't guess.  Even though things were already really really good... this made my month.  Thanks, guy and gal. Also, I came up with most of this during bored solo assignments at work.  There's plenty of filler, but moments are brilliant, if I do say so myself.  Anyone reading this who has any talent for turning wordy, chorus-less AABB rhyme patterns into engaging pop songs... please feel free: ( The Ballad of Donald Darko ) Current Mood: energetic Current Music: Spoon - Sister Jack (Comment on this)
Monday, November 19th, 2007
9:16 pm	Of Millenium Falcons and finger-chiseling monks... As promised... more Mike Brown, from a couple of weeks back: ( Talbot II is a Wise Choice ) ( JDL's Vow of Excellence ) Oh, and elsewhere in the same section as the Talbot article, he weighs in on Edmonton's homelessness problem, and writes the following concerning the high price-tag of a solution offered by the Albertan powers-that-be: For just a moment that might strike me as a bit high, but then I'd think they're the government, they know what they're doing, and I'd go take a nap because my head hurts. Mike Brown: tireless defender of democracy... unless he gets a headache.  Maybe he should stop fantasizing about Princess Leia? Current Mood: content Current Music: The Tragically Hip - Looking for a Place To Happen (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 13th, 2007
10:00 pm	Liz and I, just now: Me: BOOBS, precious! Liz: Gollum doesn't like boobs, he's asexual! Me: No, he's RINGsexual.  If the Ring had boobs, he'd like boobs. So... yeah.  I guess we're "compatible"... Current Mood: busy Current Music: The Beach Boys - Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder) (Comment on this)