The Occasional Solipsist

I've just been catching up on my blogreading (a la the fantastic Google Reader), and came across a link on Joystiq about a children's charity called Child's Play.

Being both a new father and a gamer, I was interested enough to take a look, and see what good an outfit like Penny Arcade can actually do.

And man it is so much more than I could have imagined.

Like raising over $600K last year to purchase gifts via Amazon wish lists to very sick children while they're in the hospital, possibly never to come out.

Talk about a worthy cause.

And a humbling one.

While at the site I browsed the letters page and had a read through. And when I read this one, even before I finished it, I completely fell apart. The tears just kind of erupted without warning. I think it was my brain comparing the terrible stuff this 5 year old had to go through and juxtaposing my daughter Trinity in his place.

I have now found my new favourite charity.

And tomorrow I’m going to buy a ticket for that $30M Super7 jackpot, and if I win, the very first thing I’m doing is buying everything on the list for Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Kids.

Labels: trinity

A friend of mine (thanks M) just sent over a link to a story about the forthcoming 11th Star Trek feature, reminding me that I've been meaning to make a BIG FUCKING DEAL about this.

A new Trek movie is slated for release in 2008!

Just in case you glossed over that last sentence, there is going to be a new Star Trek movie made and it will come out only 2 years from now!!

Rumours have abounded for months (better make that years) that there will in fact even be an 11th Star Trek movie after the dismal treatment and sendoff Paramount gave to Star Trek: Enterprise, and the poor box-office showing of Nemesis (and don't even get me started on that either).

According to an official press release from Paramount, the creative team now in charge of new projects is looking to revitalize the franchise by using 'A' list talent like the creators of LOST and the writers of MI:3. The story is tentatively said to center on the early careers of Kirk, Bones and everyone's favourite pointy eared Vulcan.

Links (each tells pretty much the same story):

• SciFi.com article
• TrekToday's entry
• IGN's take
• A Spacecast/Canadian perspective
• The Variety piece that started it all
  
• Dateline's satire of the announcement (very funny)
• The official and definitive word from StarTrek.com (Paramount owned)
  

Yes I have a rich, full life. The best wife in the universe. A wonderful, healthy daughter. Good job. Relatively good health. Blah. Blah.

Blah.

But now. Finally. A genuine reason to live.

At least until the summer of 2008.

Labels: funny, movies, scifi, star trek

The following poem almost exactly sums up my experiences with religion and consequent personal belief system. The details may differ, but the sentiment is the same. The last stanza is almost verbatim what I tell people when/if they ask why I am an atheist, but without the iambic pentameter.

I came across the poem in a great thread about religion vs atheism on The Atheist Mama

I Am An Atheist
- Michelle Rhea


It is not for a lack of desire,
for who would not want an Omnipotent Being
looking out for one's welfare,
protecting one's loves?

It is not for a streak of rebellion,
for I live my life no differently
than most who believe in God.

It is not for disappointment
in prayers unanswered,
for my life is good.
Some call it "blessed".

It is not due to misunderstanding,
for once I believed as they do,
bible at my bed, read through
dark nights of doubt,
praises to God in the morning.

It is not due to anger at clergy,
nor encountering the wrong church
or hypocrite laity,
for I've known many wonderful believers.

It is not hatred, fear, pride,
selfishness, or lack of education;
It is not bigotry, persecution, or immorality
that prevents me from believing.

I am an atheist,
not believing in the gods of today
for the same reason believers
disbelieve
in the gods of yesterday.

Labels: atheism

I'm not sure what caused the ridiculous surge of popularity that Chuck Norris is currently enjoying on the web, or what it is that makes the phenomenon so funny.

But even though it should be getting old by now, I can't help but laugh at bits like these:

There once was a man from Nantucket. Chuck Norris paralyzed him from the waist down.

The dinosaurs looked at Chuck Norris the wrong way. Once.

Chuck Norris can grant wishes, as long as you wish for roundhouse kicks to the face or a Total Gym.

Chuck Norris doesn't breathe, he holds air hostage.

Chuck Norris CAN talk about Fight Club.

There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of animals Chuck Norris allows to live.

Chuck Norris was onced asked, "Who let the dogs out?" He paused for a moment and then calmly stated, "Go fuck yourself."

I know I'm late to this, but man it just doesn't stop being funny. Here's some links:

• Random facts about Chuck Norris (refresh page for more)
• Articled Chuck Norris facts (RSS feed here)
  

I came across a great article online tonight written in '94, just after the PQ's rise to power in Quebec. The article deals mainly with the economic and political logistics of Quebec actually separating from Canada, and from my view in the cheap seats, I can't see how things would play out any differently now.

First of all, I am 100% against Quebec separating, and truth be told I am also 100% against the current handling of the 'Quebec situation'. I am all about equality, believing that no Canadian has rights or privileges that supercede that of any other; and having a federal mandate where an entire province is given special consideration over the rest of the country is tantamount to state-sponored racism as far as I'm concerned.

Put a different way, treating Quebeckers like the favourite child really burns my ass.

Here's a taste of how this particular individual believes separation would really play out (and I'll give you a hint, its not the way the Bloc would have you believe things would go down):

The study of the viability of an independent Quebec has developed into a cottage industry in Canada. It is generally accepted that in the long run, an independent Quebec would be a viable economic entity, well-off by world standards, indeed as successful as most small European countries. Most of the problems lie with the transition from a province of Canada to an independent country. Contrary to the rosy scenario of the PQ Bloc, the process leading to the break-up is likely to be messy, although non-violent. Furthermore, the transition would entail major costs. Indeed, both the messiness of the break-up and the transition costs are so large that it makes Quebec independence very unlikely even if a majority of Quebeckers were to vote yes to separation.

Full article here. It makes for an interesting read, and is still just as viable an argument 10 years after the fact.

Labels: politics, rants

My wife and I spent quite a bit of time last winter decking out the nursery for the then unknown baby in a Winnnie the Pooh motif.

Walls painted in 'Tigger's Belly Yellow', border, stuffed animals, comforter, sheets, bumperpads, toys, rattles, etc, etc.

This week's VG Cats has taken the innocent honey lover and made a real mess of both him and my ability to see him as the silly ole bear anymore.

But it's still very funny. Have a look here.

Mercy Angel. LMAO.

I love William Shatner. As any good Star Trek fan should. But I don't love him exclusively because of Star Trek.

Like everyone else on Earth, I of course know him first from his inimitable portrayal of James Tiberius Kirk in the original series.

But what I love about him the most is that no matter what he has been doing for the last 30 years or so, be it a movie, tv drama, reality show, documentary, commercial, or even music album, he is always taking a little poke at his own persona, in a way that endears him to his fans.

I think anyone in the entertainment industry that can make fun of themselves the way that Shatner does actually gets what a trite and silly thing fame really is.

Case in point: One of my favourite movies is Free Enterprise.

But this. The William Shatner DVD Club. This is just too much.

Btw, the t-shirt above can be found here, a killer vintage tee site that I completely coincidentally have done some web work for. I own one myself and wear it proudly. Though probably not as proudly as I did before I read about this latest silliness.

Labels: funny, movies, star trek

I'm not sure why it took me so long to get around to seeing the movie 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'. I was aware of it, and had heard that it was a good modern love story with some fairly sci fi elements to it. What I had not heard was just how good of a movie it really was.

I honestly don't know why Jim Carrey was passed for an oscar for The Truman Show; maybe talking out of your asshole (a la Ace Ventura) permanently bans you from oscar nomination. But the fact that no one said much of a peep about how great he was in this movie really surprises me.

Eternal Sunshine is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. For those who haven't seen it, the plot revolves around two people Joel (Carrey) and Clementine (the amazing Kate Winslet) in a relationship together that end up choosing to get their memories of each other erased.

The movie follows Carrey as his memories are erased backwards from the beginning of the procedure back to the moment they first met, and then to how two now-strangers find themselves together again. The movie is bittersweet and tragic and textured with the feelings of a real relationship, warts and all. And it really got me thinking about what a truly horrible thing it would be to have your memories taken from you. Not just the good ones, but all of the memories, bad included.

I often think (and talk) about causality. How each of the experiences I have had, the decisions I’ve made have shaped and influenced the person that I have become. And because for the most part I like the person that I am today, and the life that I enjoy and am lucky to have, I've become a big believer in not having regrets, because even the stupid choices a person makes influences the course of their life. Maybe more than the 'smart' choices. And man have there been a shitload of stupid choices. And I guess maybe that sounds like an excuse for not dwelling on past behaviour, but that’s the way I think.

And it still beats the old Catholic confession method. But I digress.

After watching the movie tonight, I’ve been thinking about the person I would be if I had never met my wife, or if all of the memories that had to do with her were somehow taken from me. And I find the idea absolutely terrifying. I have been fortunate enough to end up with a person who is warm and caring, and capable of not only putting up with my idiosyncrasies but loving me for them. And like Clementine she is volatile and passionate, capable of evoking the best and worst feelings in me, and absolutely wonderful.

I don’t know what I would do without my Clementine, but I know that I wouldn't be the man I am without my memories with her.

Labels: scifi

I've mentioned before about how I think that we are right now in the real Golden Age of Science Fiction. TV shows like Smallville, LOST, Battlestar. Movies like Star Wars III, Serenity, The Matrix Trilogy, so many more. CGI that is finally capable of properly conveying ideas as they were imagined to be.

Here are even more examples of why being a scifi fan right now truly rocks:

• The second season of Doctor Who - begins 15 April
• X-Men: The Last Stand - 26 May
• Superman Returns - 30 June
  
• ABC's Masters of SF - Fall 2006
  

I love looking forward to things that I already know I'm going to love. It's so comforting.

Labels: scifi

There's a story going around the web about a presentation recently put on by Bill Nye (you know, the Science Guy). Apparently the emmy award winning scientist pissed a few hardliner churchgoers fundies off by pointing out that certain parts of the book of Genesis (specifically the parts about stellar creation) shouldn't be taken literally. Gasp!

A few people actually walked out yelling 'We believe in a God!'.

The complete lack of common sense that these people display never fails to amaze me.

I mean I may choose not to believe in any one religion's explanation of life, the universe and everything, but for those that do choose to, how can they justify turning a blind eye to scientific truths in order to cling to their beliefs?

I really do find it amazing that christian dogma is so fragile that it can't handle even the most obvious criticism.

Full article here.

An online friend of mine has a post and a corresponding comment thread going on religious faith.

As a fan of the late great Dr. Carl Sagan's work, I always appreciate it when someone quotes him to shine the light of scientific reality on religious dogma.

Don't waste anymore time here. Check out the article here.

Labels: atheism, rants

I've been a LOST fan since early last year, having missed the first few episodes and then catching them on reruns a few months later. My wife and I have been hooked bad ever since. We never miss it.

It's not the best show ever made, and lately it has proven to have one of the more slowly advancing story arcs of any series I've been a fan of.

But the one really good thing about LOST is that it doesn't spoon feed the audience the answers to the questions the show raises. It usually just raises more questions.

And the thing about everyone that watches the show is that they all have formulated at least some kind of opinion about what the hell is going on. There is a really well thought out opinion by someone who has really been paying attention here. Look for it about halfway down the page under 'Q Theory'. He also has a nice rundown on the recent 'Lockdown' episode.

I myself have pretty much always been in the ‘someone is dreaming the whole thing’ camp since the get-go. Just like that entire season of Dallas (come on - you remember the 80's, right?) I have always figured that we’d find out at the series close that the whole series was just the way only one character was whiling away a coma or something.

And that’s why tonight’s episode ‘Dave’ was so great for me. First of all, it finally vindicated my one major complaint about the show: That the morbidly obese fat guy wasn’t losing weight on a deserted (sortof) island with no food. Turns out he was hoarding some of the only food that was available. So that was good.

But even better, lately I have been thinking that the writers have jumped the shark, in that they have lost control of their own show and really don’t know what to do with the arc, the characters, or some of the subplots they’ve dreamed up. ‘Dave’ did a great job of bringing my pet theory to the forefront by tackling the idea that everything that has been happening, from Hurley winning the lottery to the plane crash to everything that has been happening on the island, has in fact been going on in Hurley’s subconscious. Pretty much exactly what I’ve been saying.

The episode leaves us with Hurley not jumping off the cliff as his imaginary friend suggests (and thus not causing his real self to wake up). Instead he chooses to believe Libby and decides that the island is real, and so is Libby's love for him.

And so now that the writers have resolved this, they can go on and try to find some other way of explaining wtf has been going on, from the myriad coincidences surrounding all the people on the island to the Oceanic symbol appearing on the shark and the plane in Locke’s flashback, etc etc. But if the writers end up not being able to explain the show satisfactorily, I think they now have the best escape hatch they could ask for: If all else fails, they can go back to Hurley and have it turn out that everything was his dream. And if he had’ve jumped at the end of ‘Dave’, the whole thing would’ve been over.

A more detailed breakdown of ‘Dave’ and why my theory is right can be found here. Note that the rest of the site is an excellent source of current LOST information, and is fairly spoiler free.

And here’s something for the hardcore fans: the map from last week’s blacklight scene, where Locke gets a glimpse of a predecessor’s take on things. Click the image for a much larger glimpse of your own.



I don’t know where to start on this one, but the translations from Latin make for some very interesting reading. And since the map points out 6 or 7 hatches, only three of which we already knew about, plus a mysterious question mark in the middle (a city maybe), you know this will become one of the most important plot points of the whole series.

Now if they can just keep all of the religious symbolism to a dull roar, I can really start to get behind this show again.

Dear Trinity,



It is now official. You've been with us now longer than the nine months we waited for you. (Not counting the 10 years we waited to decide to have you.)

You had a few more major milestones over the last month: Your second tooth showed itself, with only a little bit more fanfare from you than the first one.

And you crawled forward for the first time! You've been crawling backwards for months now, and in fact we figured since you were so good at it, you would just go from backwards to a full walk. But the other day you purposefully crawled forwards to claim a toy that was just out of reach. And you were so delighted by the praise we both heaped on you.

With one exception, you keep right on loving the different foods we've been trying you out on. This past week you officially made the move to carnivore after trying your very first meat. Strained beef I think it was called. The pic below describes your feelings about this far better than I ever could.



I don't know how its possible, but somehow you keep getting more important to me, occupying my thoughts somewhere between often and all of the time. And the longer you are with us, the more you are capable of returning our affection; the bubbly laugh you give when we play or read together; the whoop you yell out when I come home from work; the hugs you give when we cuddle together.

There has been one big change in my life this past month that only indirectly affects you: I took a 'real' job away from home in order to give us a more steady income and to help facilitate your Mommy staying home with you permanently. I miss you both so much; I guess I got used to working from home and getting to see you at anytime during the day. But the look on your face the first day I came home from work made up for any amount of missing you I will ever experience. If I get to pick which things I will forget as I get older, that moment is the absolute last one on the list.



Talk to you next month,

Love Daddy

Labels: trinity

Today is my first day off as part of my new four on - four off shift schedule, and we're inside enjoying the first thunderstorm of spring.

I have always loved the experience of thunderstorms. Maybe its the reminder of how little control we actually have over our environment.

And now, as I sit here in the gloom and listen to the rain pelt the sidewalk just a few feet away, and the thunder roll from one side of the house to the other, I also get to listen to the comforting sounds of my daughter nursing beside me.

And the best part: I don't have to even think about work until Friday afternoon.

Gotta love the new job.

And rainy days.

Labels: work