On lousy jobs and annoying employers

Okay, does this make sense to anyone?

Last year, I was hired for my current job. I was informed I would receive at least 20 hours per week of work, which is enough to pay rent, eat, exciting things like that.

So they then hire an assistant manager, which effectively means they did not need to have hired me. I was actually told that if they had known the department would be getting an assistant, they would not have hired me. Big surprise, 20 hours per week turns rapidly lower.

Continuing on, I manage to keep at it, assuming things will get better. I work part time in the computer department of the store to make ends meet until I have worked the mandatory year that I must before I am allowed to transfer.

Yay! It has been a year. I apply for a position at a bigger, brighter, newer store. I say "I only get about 12 hours a week at my current store. I need 20 hours per week to be able to live." They say "No problem!"

I get my first schedule. Were it not for a specialized sales training course I have to attend during my first week at the new store I would have 9 hours. Nine.

So riddle me this : Why the HELL do you transfer someone to a new job only to give them LESS hours than the job they told you flat out they were leaving due to NOT ENOUGH HOURS?!?!

Argh!



So I'm starting wallpapering prestigious cosmetic counters with my resume tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Halloween Contest Announcement

This year we're switching tracks at the Clubhouse (for many reasons) and this year's contest is "Tackiest Halloween Decoration".

Be sure that your name is placed obviously on it.

Remember a couple years back, we had someone win the pumpkin carving contest by default? Let's have a real compitition this year.

Reach out and crush someone...

Well, it is finally time to retire my pager... It's old, scuffed up, turns on and off whenever it feels like, and is generally falling apart. To replace it, I've got a shiny new cell phone the size of a penknife. I feel like I'm going to break it every time I touch it. At any rate, you can now reach me at (six zero four) five three seven - eight six eight six. My pager will still be functional until this time next month, so if you forget and page me instead, no big deal.

$3,962

I have $500 a month to live on as MSP has informed me that $100 of my student loan must be returned to MSP for premium coverage.

Why is it that I pay the same amount for MSP as someone who makes a salary of over $100,000 annually? In order to qualify for premium service the entire family must make under $12,000. I don't make any money. I'm borrowing it.

I'm just mad I had to sit beside a nosepicker who smelled like Tuna Fish Play Doh. And by nosepicker he was more of an excavator.

And I am pissed about this MSP policy.

Rain. In Vancouver?

While the steps of my school were turning into water fountains (mountains schools seem to get heavier rains) I think I am now getting sick.

I was soaked through (because of the full buses passing by me and the swift removal of all shelters in Vancouver) by the time I got to school I was drenched to the point where my under-layers were sticking to my skin making it itchy. I remained wet and inside with no semblence of heat all day. I was still wet by the time I left school at 3:30pm and had another TWO buses drive off because they were full.

I am really hating transit today.

For your Information...

Courtesy of Sinister Sam (a.k.a. jaded QT hater):
Amazing QT interview including a shot by shot dissection of every film and tv show in Kill Bill. (I knew Hattori Hanso was from something!)

p.s. Make sure you check out the cartoon on page 2.

I <3 Airside Shop

I'm a consumer whore!

And How!

Christmas is the most loveliest time of the year!

Joy.

So very cool.

Very.

I Post Like a Guy

It's my over-usage of the word "the" I think.

Test your writing.

Good-bye, everybody, we have to go

Old news: Kate and I are leaving the country on November 5. (Coincidentally, the day that Revolutions opens. Midnight showing, here we come!)

New news: Kate and I are having a bye-bye get-together thingy on Saturday, November 1. Starting off at Revs (formerly Brentwood Lanes, aka the battleground for Bowling for Righteousness), then to the Sitar in Gastown for dinner, then to (preferably) that room at the Fox & Firkin (where we began the Mock Prom). After that, who knows.

Attend as much or as little as you like. Skip the Sitar if you don't like Indian food (what, are you racist or something?).

Spread the word to people we don't hate. Can someone call up Cameron and tell him to show up?

It now occurs to me that I can't remember when we plan to start this, or even if we decided on a time. So, yeah, see if you're free sometime on Nov. 1, you know, afternoonish and later. Details TBA, I suppose.

Please lemme know if you think you might show up, and for which bits.

My Kill Bill Review

I'm gonna keep this sucker fairly brief as it is getting kind of late and I have to make sure Corinne gets some sleep (I get to sleep in).

I must say that this is one of those situations where I had the film hyped up so greatly that it could have ruined it for me. Both Garath and Corinne, who had seen the movie a few days before, had tried to prevent their excitement from slipping out, but failed miserably. (Garath actually let slip that it was one of his top 10 movies!) Going into this movie I had to ignore the hype that had built up. Did it affect my viewing of the movie in a negative way?

Yes. The movie actually seemed pretty slow and kind of cheesy at the time of viewing. The pacing seemed off, and the characterization didn't jump out at me. The action scenes and gore were entertaining as was a lot of the dialogue and odd QT-like scenarios. But at the time of viewing I was feeling a little underwhelmed. The movie really seemed to drag.

It was in retrospect that the movie slowly became one of my favorites. I kept thinking about little bits and pieces. Dialogue, kick-ass action, how hot Lucy Liu is. The movie didn't seem anywhere as deep as Quentin's other movies, but I think that there might be something going on that will handle that in the third movie. It was the little things that improved it in retrospect: the fact that the cereal box was labeled Kaboom, the music, certain scenes that jump to consciousness. The movie lingers as a good movie should, and brings the desire to go see it again.

All in all, pretty good, but no Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction.

86%

Kill Bill

Not dead yet, but awesome, awesome, awesome.

I'm not writing a review, I'm just bragging.

Saturday at 2pm a bunch of us are going to Silvercity Metrotown to watch this in its glory (again).

Intolerable Cruelty is 10pmish Friday (tomorrow) night.

Mark a big white X on our door we have the Plague

I am sick. Karen is getting sick. Bob the evil has brought "the disease" into our house. I am generously spreading it to people at school, at work, in my pottery class and anyone on public transport who has a weak constitution. There is a girls' night in at my house (read sorority) on Saturday night. All girls are invited if they are not already going to the halo party. Karen mentioned some very scary sounding beauty treatments if you are into that kind of .... er kink?... then this party is for you. I have been told I am attending, though I am really not sure anyone checked my schedule first. Maybe I can make up a previous appointment I had. I don't think we will be going too late. Karen has to work on Sunday morning. I am going to my mother's on Sunday and spread the disease to my family.

More Events Than the Email

Halloween has two additions:

Saturday October 25 has a meat-fest again at the Memphis Blues at 4:30-5pm before the big Halloween party. Lemme know in advance so I can grab a properly sized table (less meat, more people I think this time... leave some room for the drinks and snacks and braaaaaaains).

Friday October 31, is a haunted house that I am participating in. It's in Burnaby near SFU (west of, down the hill in the giant 'burby section of Burnaby) at Trevor's joint (remember the guy who won the drinking contest at the Liver Destuction Party a couple months back? You were too sober, try again this month). From 6-9pm there is going to be a spectacular house of horrors that is toured by small groups every 5 or so minutes. Some creepy stuff is being suggested (butcher shops still carry cows' eyes, no?), and it's a troupe of about 10 people participating in the tomfoolery. Let me know if any of you want to see the house of horrors that a bunch of bored, young adults are cooking up. Should be verrrrrrry cool. If nothing else, drinking and chaos to follow suit.

Leaping Audiences

I have not been so scared and jumpy at a movie as I have with "A Tale of Two Sisters". That being said I have now destroyed the movie for everyone by placing enormous expectations on it.

The audience was into this movie with jumps, gasps, screams, deep breaths and inpenetrable stillness. Amazing movie, awesome experience.

I can't sleep now.

98%

"Nothing" was quirky and humourous. Quirky. Very quirky. Kept me entertained, but probably would not have sought this movie out had it not been for throngs of "Cube" fans. 72%

The Last Life in the Universe

You may remember the librarian Kenji as Kikihara in Ichi the Killer or the yakuza guy as Miike Takashi, but either way, this is not Ichi's twin, sequel, brother, cousin or bastard son.

Even with a yakuza sub-plot, this Hong Kong/Japan/Thailand film presented in Thai, English and Japanese (maybe more...) is softer than Ichi; about a shut in recluse anal Japanese librarian finding out that he is not the last life in the universe as he supposes he is.

Opening with Kenji's (Asano Tadanobu) admission that in three hours time, two people will enter his meticulous apartment to find him hanging not from heart break or hopelessness, but from release of the mundane to the closure of another fantasy image, you watch ths "love story" unravel between the last two people on Earth.

Noi (Sinitta Boonyasak) loses her sister in the same 24 hour span where Kenji loses his brother--both in horribly violent on screen ways. Kenji, as a witness to Noi's sister's death, makes friends with Noi in a way that only an anal retentive recluse can: he cleans her house for her (while she has some fantastic trip where the house cleans itself).

So much goes on in this movie that I could write pages and pages worth of essay style writing, but I'd rather just define it as beautifully filmed, scripted and performed.

92%

Double Bill

October 10, 2003

Kill Bill
Intolerable Cruelty

Both of these movies are released this Friday. And damn, I can't pick. So I'm going to watch both.

Halo Party

So... yeah... There's this thing on Sunday the 11th with TVs and XBoxes and Halo.

There will probably be a bunch of stinky nerds and stuff, so I don't expect much interest from any of you, but you're all welcome to come with me.

Drop me a line and I'll get you all the info and even take you with me (or meet you there). It'll be in Burnaby.

Tuesday Movie Schedule for October!!

As promised, the eagerly anticipated all monster movie program:

Tuesday October 7 -- In the Beginning
7pm: Bride of Frankenstein [1935] -- James Whale's camp horror masterpiece
There will not be a 9pm program as BJ and I have film fest tickets for 9:45.

Tuesday October 14 -- Hungry Like the Wolf
7pm: The Howling [1981] -- Directed by Joe Dante, written by Jon Sayles and featuring among all people: Slim Pickens and Robert Picardo. One of the smarter "Effects-Horror" flicks.
9pm: In the Company of Wolves [1984] -- Just in case you weren't sure what "Little Red Ridding Hood" was really about, Neil Jordan makes it brutally obvious.

Tuesday October 21 -- '70's Dracula Disco Nightmare
7pm: Dracula A.D. 1972 [1972] -- If nothing else signaled the death knell of the Great Hammer House of Horror, this was at least part of it. Featuring the immortal Christopher Lee, and Peter Cushing in perhaps his best role.
9pm: Scream, Blacula Scream! [1973] -- Surprisingly spooky sequel to one of the more compelling Black-sploitation genre crossovers. With Pam Grier and William Marshall.

Tuesday October 28 -- Zombies!!!!
7pm: (Subject to Change) Burial Ground [1980] -- Unbeliveable, over the top, Eurotrash craziness. Sinister Sam's favourite movie of all time.
9pm: Stacy [2001] -- Japanse film about teenage school girls who start dropping dead and becoming zombies. Let me repeat: "Japan", "school-girls", "zombies"... need I say more?

Again, try to RSVP if you can. We like to have an idea of numbers. And since no one bothered to way in on the Pop Fund issue there has been little pop at the last couple screenings, so let us know what you want!

Also, if possible try to keep Thur Oct 30 open as we are looking into planning a larger scale Halloween event at Placebo Sofa Cinema. Details to follow.

~Later my Lovelies
Meeko

Which Jhonen Vaquez character are you? By EmReznor.

Film Festival Reviews (finally)

The Day My God Died: As to be expected of a movie about child prostitution in Bombay where the HIV rate is 80% among 100,000 kidnapped girls, it was a downer. There were four or five girls featured ranging from 14 to 21, each being kidnapped between the ages of 7 and 19 and forced into prostituion (and not forced in the bribe way--much worse than I'm comfortable discussing here). Down sides include Wynona Ryder's poetry recital which stopped the movie everytime she read a piece of a poem written by retrieved girls, and at times the pacing was slow, even for a documentary. On the upswing of this dreary presentation was the groups that are active in protecting theses girls from becoming a part of the pile. Definitely inspired activism. If I were giving it a percentage, I'd say about a 71% mark.

The Ressurection of the Little Match Girl: Probably my favourite movie so far this year (none have made me super excited), it encapsulates the 108 Buddist deemed human sins, a Hans Christian Andersen fable (he was the dark Mama Goose), VR Video Games, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Matrix fighting styles, cheesey CG and a fish gun called the "Mackerel". Absolutely amazing in its non-stop stuff happening. I'll probably be watching this seven or more times to get all of it in. Readings to take in before next screen will include: those 108 sins, The Little Match Girl itself (which Grae was using for his marking surface, oddly enough), and I really need to find out what movie had the digital butterflies that symbolized entry into VR (I theorize that it was eXistenZ, but I am not certain) and find out where that originates from). 85%

Gozu: Uh... Uh... If you don't like Takashi or DoA3, don't go. You won't get it. I didn't and I love the guy. 82%