Articles from April 2007

I got to miss the entire day of school for a math competition at the university. ^_^

The individual competition was in the morning, so I sat in the lecture theatre with a hundred or so other kids and answered 15 multiple choice and 5 full solution questions (or attempted to answer, I guess). It was pretty hard, but not as bad as last year. I did well on the multiple choice, I think, although…

Now you know.

For you see, Stephen Harper failed to learn a critical lesson of statecraft: never tick off an artist. The problem with annoying an artist, especially someone as influential as Yann Martel, is that artists are, by definition, creative people. And they find very creative, sometimes unexpected ways to get back at those who slight them.

Of course, since the purpose of an artist is to create, and not destroy, Yann Martel came…

Orson Scott Card once said that dread is a much stronger, much more effective emotion than horror. The dread of anticipation, the suspense created by not knowing precisely what's out there, is much better than the shock value of pure gore and violence.

And that's why Disturbia was an excellent movie. It's the best execution of dread I've seen in a while. Unlike the typical horror movie, which nowadays consists of the main (unkillable) villain…

Disney and I have a sort of love-hate relationship going on when it comes to its television.

I'm from the mid-nineties generation of children. I grew up on the after-school and Saturday-morning Disney cartoons like Disney's Recess and The Weekenders. To this day, I proudly admit that I watch those whenever I can. I've got less opportunity to watch The Weekenders, but Recess comes on every day after school, so I watch it…

Turns that like the Dark Side has a Light Side, so too does Facebook have a cream filling at the centre. (Tune in for more mixed metaphors at 11!)

Through our mutual friend--the Oracle of English herself--Ms. Sukalo, I've reconnected with two friends who I knew way back before I moved to this side of town, back when I went to Algonquin, back in kindergarten and grade 1! Now, I have a terrible memory, especially…

We'll miss you. :bye:

What? You expected more? Perhaps some sort of heartfelt testament to my love of his work? I enjoyed Breakfast of Champions and Player Piano. But frankly I'm just too tired at this point in the night to even consider delving into praise of Vonnegut's vast oeuvre. I'm going to sleep.

Congratulations to Cortney and Vivike for getting into Guelph and Brock, and Guelph and OCAD, respectively! :w00t: Unlike yours…

Great Bird of the Galaxy, forgive me.

It was just a matter of time, of course. My willpower is far from legendary or anything, and I knew that I was going to "cave", as Cortney so eloquently puts it, sometime or another--I fully intended to, since once I'm done high school I'd like to preserve my connections with my friends through whatever means available. And, as much as I hate to admit it, social networking…

Navigator is your friend.

Word processors are more than electronic typewriters. They are massively useful programs designed not only to help you write a document, but to help you organise your document. If you use your word processor just to write things in a linear fashion, good for you--but you're totally missing out on this whole other world, this whole facet of word processing that makes a computer superior to an ordinary manual typewriter.

Anyway,…

I must say, I seem to lack a lot of the basic social knowledge required to survive in the modern world. One must wonder why the Sierra Club hasn't blacklisted me yet.

My former English teacher, Ms. Sukalo, is in town for Easter this week (she now teaches in New York, so I don't get to see her often). Myself and a bunch of friends finally got to see her today; we met for coffee…

Shortened weeks are killer. Yes, four-day weekends are awesome. But right now, right before midterm, at a critical juncture? :/ The thesis for my history ISU is due this Thursday. I've sort of got a thesis down, but I'd really feel more comfortable handing it in if I had some solid research to support it before I get in too deep. Unfortunately, I worked tonight and I'm working tomorrow. On the days that I work,…