Moliere Stole it Word for Word

Another favourite movie of mine is "Good Will Hunting.

This morning I had a revelation.

Cyrano De Bergerac + New Age Therapy = Good Will Hunting.

Will Hunting is the same genius renaissance man that Cyrano is, with the same vulnrabilities, guarded by the same wit. Just compare Cyrano's scene in the Hotel Bourgogne, and Will's scene in the Harvard Bar.

If you gotta crib, it might as well be from the best.

Art and Poetry

I was up late last night watching one of my favourite movies; Cyrano de Bergerac starring Jose Ferrer (1950).

Edmond Rostand's novel was one of my first and dearest favourite books. I've read it at least a dozen times over the years.

There have been many film and theatre adaptations of the novel, but the best was the 1950 version featuring Jose Ferrer.

His portrayal of Cyrano was fantastic. I have seen other portrayals, but only Ferrer's managed to capture the sentimental pathos behind the proud bluster of Cyrano.

I hardly noticed that it was 2 a.m. and that I had to go to work in a few hours. C'est la vie, c'est la guerre.

The Bank of Gerry and Asif

Been busy as of late so not many posts for awhile.

But two weeks ago we had probably our last game of golf before the winter sets in.

Special thanks to Darcy, Mete, Nikhil, Gerry, and Asif (in absentia) for a great tournament.

The booty scored included a flag, a traffic cone, a wack of Tide, some crisp $50 bills, under cooked steaks, and a goose that got away.

Good times.

Reduce, Recycle, Reuse

I was looking over my last blog and found a post I made nearly a year ago while I was overseas. Reading it again was like finding old truths once again:

After four months of being in Hong Kong and China, I have become more aware of what it is to be Canadian.

Especially after mixing around with people from Hong Kong, Mainland China, Denmark, Italy, Germany, France, Sweden, South America, and the UK, I found some distinctly Canadian things that only other Canadians can recognize: a knowing look shared between Canucks says it all.

So here is a short list of stuff I have found that will inform you if you have indeed grown up in Canada:

1. You know who Joey Jeremiah is.
2. You can identify a "Cruller", a "two-four", and a "slap shot".
3. You know what it is to be a "Hal Johnson and Joanne Macloud".
4. The word "Hork" is both a noun and a verb.
5. You can't exactly say how Canadians are different from Americans, but we know it is a BIG difference.
6. You are surprised that outside of Canada, a $5 price, means a $5 price; NOT something closer to $6 because of the damn tax.
7. We say "sorry" waaaaaay too much.
8. We know what "Winter Conditions" are , and that "black ice" isn't just a shitty highschool beer.
9. We "hang out" together.
10. Having a Slurpee in -20 degree winter is perfectly normal. In fact at some point in your life, you've used a slurpee as mix for your hard liquor.
11. You know someone who says he/she is going to "the Safeways", "the Canadian Tires", or "the Superstores". Doesn't matter that they are going to just one place, it is always plural.
12. When you were a kid and learned to sing "Oh Canada", you wondered who "Gloria" was and who "sent her free"?

The other thing I found out was that no matter where you are from, there is no place like home. For all my friends out there who have gone back to their home countries, I hope it is everything you missed. Too bad it probably isn't as nice as Canada though.

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Best wishes to one and all...