Chris and Leah's Blog! » 2007

John Travolta Makes Me Want To Barf

chris — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 03:15:48 +0000

Entertainment Tonight, or some such “news” program just aired a clip of an interview with Vinnie Barbarino aka Johnny Travolta and it made me uncomfortable. As with any actor I have a hard time believing anything that comes out of most of their mouths, but this is off the charts. Here’s the transcript:

Did you know Heath? How has his death affected you?
JT: I did know Heath and I adored him. I am pretty devastated over this. He was my favourite actor and my favourite talent. It’s like losing James Dean. I would give back all my awards and all my nominations just to have him back — I think he is a real loss as a persona and as a talent. And this whole evening is very hard for me. We are celebrating Australia week in the USA — and it’s killing me. You know that he’s both of us. He’s Australian and from the United States, and he means a whole lot. It’s bad situation.

How did you meet him?
JT: I wanted to meet him because I was very impressed with him from the very beginning. His agent introduced me to him at a party, and I just fell — I used every accolade. Actors need other actors to be inspired by, and he was “my” actor.

How did he respond?
JT: I forget that anyone younger than me grew up with me. He was beautiful in his reaction. I was an idol of his — my reacting that way to his work really blew him away, but he was very modest and almost bashful about the compliment — and didn’t want to make a big deal about himself. But he was a big deal.

I’m Going To Ride The 2008 Tour De France..

chris — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 13:10:14 +0000

… at least parts of various stages as part of our summer vacation!!! We just booked the tour and I’m already counting the days until July 17. Our tour allows me to ride a number of famous climbs including the Col du Restefond (Europes highest Col), Izoard, Vars, Lauteret, Galibier, and Alpe d’Huez!!! I’ve started my training as I’m going to need to be in the best shape of my life to complete any of these climbs. And I’ve also started shopping… I can’t ride my current bike in the Tour, can I???

Juno

chris — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 23:45:27 +0000

We just got back from seeing this film and it was great. Just last week we saw a commercial for it, and in my half-asleep state on the couch something about it jumped out at me and made me want to see it. (This was the first and only commercial I saw for it…)

It’s a bit different, but in a good way. It pulls at your heart strings, and reminds you about what it’s like to be young and in love, and how great it is to be in love.

I Need A Company Name

chris — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 23:43:03 +0000

I’m starting a new company as part of my succession of my current business partner in the ownership of our company. The new company will be a holdings and investment company. (TwinPro will carry on as TwinPro doing the daily business of print management.) This means I get to create a new company name! Here are some simple pointers that I found on the web… and I think apply. Any suggestions of great names are welcome.

They are usually short

They are usually words that are not in the dictionary (at least not the usual meaning)

They usually have good English construction so they sound like they can become part of the language

They are easy to say as they have good phonetics and linguistics properties

They either have good alliteration or a good sticky consonant, to help make them memorably

They often surprise

They are seldom directly descriptive

They are usually trademarked and properly branded and promoted

They are associated with cool products and designs

They “sing” or have other melodious qualities

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

chris — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 17:42:40 +0000

Looking forward to seeing this film:

You Don’t Mess with the Zohan Trailer

chris — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 12:46:44 +0000

What’s with Adam Sandler making these flicks?

Would you give awards honouring the people you’re striking against?

chris — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 12:45:57 +0000

No? Well the WGA are: http://www.wga.org/subpage_newsevents.aspx?id=2653. So you’re on strike against the networks who produce the shows you work for, but you’re going to honour them with awards for writing. The writing that you did before you went on strike.I understand the requests that the writers are making in their strike, but I disagree with striking to get it. Most of these writers went into the profession with the current payment structure in place, so they should not have had any misconceptions about how much money they could make.This post will remain unfinished as I’m going on strike. When I started writing it I knew the rules, but now I don’t like them so I’m going to just stop until the rules are changed to reflect what I want.

It’s Like Christmas. For 40 weeks straight!

chris — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 12:05:25 +0000

For the last few years around Christmas, enterprising Mac software developers have created promotions to move huge quantities of their products while creating a significant buzz about said products. This year a new offering from 20MacApps caught my eye, and my credit card! They are offering 20 apps as a bundle going for $40, a 90% discount from the final price. The bundle will increase an additional 1% in price each day until February 1st. Then, by February 1st, each new app will be revealed every fortnight (two weeks) and will be sold individually for $20 each (even though some could have been worth more!). And yes, they’re all new and exclusive apps, so unlike surprise bundles of the past, it looks like we won’t end up worrying on whether we’ll have a second copy of an app to spare.

A New Desk Is On Its Way

chris — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 02:28:43 +0000

After many, many months of searching we finally bought a new desk. We bought it from Naked Furniture - a store that I drive past most days of the week as it is just around the corner from my office. Nina (pronounced nine-a) was wonderfully helpful and more than willing to joke back with me. It felt like comedy hour with both of us making jokes about everything – however I was able to finally break her with my final joke of the day! The store’s slogan is “Toronto’s Largest Unpainted Furniture Store” so I pointed out the fact that most of the walls in the store were actually painted… perhaps, like most the “jokes” it was only funny to Nina and I?In 8 to 10 weeks we’ll finally be able to ditch this amazing Ikea kitchen table and replace it with a proper desk and desk chair! Woo Hoo!!

Bell Canada Confuses Me. (Again.)

chris — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:14:47 +0000

In the envelope with this months phone bill was an insert with the headline “Basic Long Distance rates are changing.” Wow. Nice and straightforward from Bell? Something doesn’t seem right so I continued to read…

Bell are, contrary to other providers, increasing their rates. (At least compared to our current bill, we will pay more for the same calls.And if they were lowering rates, it would be a good sales move to show their old rates compared to their new lower rates… which they don’t do.)

Rogers offer free long distance. Internet calls using Skype and other similar service are unlimited and nearly free. So why does Bell think that the best move is to increase their fees?

Furthermore, why do they have to make things so unbelievably confusing. Take a look at this chart and explain to me how much a peak rate call to a location that is 18 miles away should cost? As I read it, that call should cost either $0.10/minute or $0.12/minute??? What??? And why are they using miles???? And since when is 10 miles long distance? That means that a call from downtown Toronto to the airport is a long distance call?

With each passing day I have less and less interest in having Bell as our phone and internet provider.