http://www.gungeralv.org/notes/ Because everyone needs a hobby]]> en-us 2006-03-21T07:10:41-05:00 http://www.gungeralv.org/notes/archives/2006/03/barney_glen_roald_19432006.php Uncle GlenJuly 18, 1943 – March 7, 2006 Two weeks ago now, my father's younger brother passed away after a long battle with cancer. He died surrounded by family, which was the only way he would have wanted it. I grew up in Halifax and Glen and family lived in Vancouver, so I never saw as much of him as... colin 2006-03-21T07:10:41-05:00 http://www.gungeralv.org/notes/archives/2006/02/night_watch.php A one-sentence review: if you have the slightest interest in gothic-punk urban fantasy, Night Watch (Ночной дозор) is the real fucking deal. An alternate one-sentence review: You only wished your Shadowrun games could be like this. Among many other things, that neon-yellow Russian utility truck makes the coolest movie batmobile ever.... Reviews colin 2006-02-26T17:17:35-05:00 http://www.gungeralv.org/notes/archives/2006/02/life_concentrate.php When I'm travelling, by 10 in the morning I can feel like it's been a full day already; I live more in a day on the road than in any four normal days. I'm back. It feels like I've been gone a month, and well earned. Damn, but it's been too long since I've done real backpacking. Iceland reminded... Travel colin 2006-02-21T00:31:07-05:00 http://www.gungeralv.org/notes/archives/2006/02/viva_mexico.php I've been feeling I need to get out of town for a bit, so next week I'm off for a short vacation to Mexico City and around. Has anyone here been? I'd love any offbeat suggestions of things to do or places to go. I don't have much of a "plan", exactly, but expect to go to the Zocalo... Travel colin 2006-02-09T23:52:00-05:00 http://www.gungeralv.org/notes/archives/2006/01/terra_cognita.php Isn't the internet grand? All of these clever tools at my insomniac disposal. But geez, I have a lot of territory left to cover. Maybe I will get to Mexico in the spring.... Travel colin 2006-01-09T01:13:45-05:00 http://www.gungeralv.org/notes/archives/2005/12/heitur_pottur.php There are really only two things in Iceland that are better in the winter than in the summer. One is the chance to see the Northern Lights, which obviously can't be combined with midnight sun. But 2005 is pretty much solar minimum -- that is, the quietest point of its ~11-year activity cycle -- so my odds were poor... Travel colin 2005-12-31T11:50:52-05:00 http://www.gungeralv.org/notes/archives/2005/12/hurry_hard.php So, curling. That other, shameful Canadian winter sport. The one that is not talked about in front of outsiders; the one played behind closed doors in private, nigh-Masonic clubs in every small town in the Frozen North. The game with the sweeping. That one. It turns out there's a club in Wayland. I joined up and have been playing... Enthusiasms colin 2005-12-30T18:05:21-05:00 http://www.gungeralv.org/notes/archives/2005/12/pictures_of_ice_and_fire.php I have uploaded pictures to Flickr. (I have one more essay to post about the trip; it's half written, and I swear I will not let it fade away unfinished.) Update: Also, Maciej Ceglowski of Idle Words was recently in Iceland.... Travel colin 2005-12-18T23:53:52-05:00 http://www.gungeralv.org/notes/archives/2005/12/winter_in_iceland.php Guidebooks aren't much use in sorting out what's available in Iceland in the winter. Both the Rough Guide and the Lonely Planet treat anything from September to May as an afterthought; sometimes they give opening and closing dates for seasonal tourist services, but more often they don't say. Left unclear is whether you should assume silence means the thing... Travel colin 2005-12-08T20:40:28-05:00 http://www.gungeralv.org/notes/archives/2005/12/subarctic_sun.php The sun takes a long time to rise in Iceland. I arrived early Sunday morning off an overnight flight from Boston. The airport bus dropped me off downtown around 8. Everything was dark and quiet, the temperature was just below freezing, and there was a quarter inch of snow on the ground. I wanted to get something to drink,... Travel colin 2005-12-06T08:01:41-05:00 http://www.gungeralv.org/notes/archives/2005/09/invitations.php Party!! and Curling!! Enthusiasms colin 2005-09-26T21:42:29-05:00 http://www.gungeralv.org/notes/archives/2005/09/instructions.php There are very few poems I actually like. It's a personal thing, I suppose -- the common game of poets is to pack as much cryptic, impressionistic meaning as they can into as few words as possible. It becomes an intellectual puzzle to decode them. Some people enjoy that kind of thing, which is fair enough. There are poems I... Reviews colin 2005-09-07T07:33:26-05:00 http://www.gungeralv.org/notes/archives/2005/09/help_refused.php Dear God. The news actually finally has me frothing mad. The Canadian government offered New Orleans a blank cheque on disaster relief assistance, and Bush refused: Canada will send the United States any help needed in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, Prime Minister Paul Martin told President George W. Bush on Thursday.... Martin said Bush didn't ask for help,... News colin 2005-09-02T13:23:12-05:00 http://www.gungeralv.org/notes/archives/2005/08/sowa_open_studios.php Apparently the gentrifying bit of the South End wedged between Washington St and I-93 is now to be known as SoWa, New York-style. Whatever, Real Estate Guys. It's not an area I might ever have noticed on my own, but last month Professor Orso brought to my attention a NYT Sunday Travel article about its cluster of new art galleries... Travel colin 2005-08-06T11:01:05-05:00 http://www.gungeralv.org/notes/archives/2005/07/barbeque_croquet_sangria_zombie_cow.php I think I shouldn't leave that last post as the top entry for too long. After some combination of venting and sleep, all-powerful sleep, I am again feeling pretty good. Life goes on, and things will work out. To that end: Come hang out on my sunny back deck Sunday evening (starting from 5 pm). There will be hamburgers... Navel-gazing colin 2005-07-23T11:22:08-05:00