Random September

It's still September. Marginally. But here it is, just under the wire and not a complete link-o-rama. Still being nice to my shoulder and what do you know, it may actually be working (shhhh! Don't anybody say that out loud, please).

My latest movie from Rogers Video Direct (Canadian version of Netflix) was The Love Trap. Made in 1929, it was the first movie to use sound, but oddly, only for the last 20 min., the rest of it was silent. Charming little movie that I enjoyed thoroughly and it made me realize how much is communicated without words. Sure, for the silent bits, there was a bit more gestures, but really, you got the gist of what was happening through watching body language, facial expressions, etc. It was actually a nice change. Quite restful.

Found this article on somebody's tweet - I click on links, they open in the tab, I don't have time to read for days, so I have no idea who originally tweeted this. It's about the restored painting of a naked dwarf from the mid-16th century. Aside from the rather fascinating history of the painting, it provides a look into what it was like to have one particular kind of disability hundreds of years ago. It made you property, not quite human and if you were lucky, you became the property of someone powerful and then it was your job to amuse them. By e.g., fighting monkeys. While I may bitch about inaccessibility and discrimination, at least no one makes me fight primates. Which is a good thing, because they freak me out. As do clowns and mimes. Bit of an abrupt segue, but I'm feeling highly random.

Found an article in Wednesday's paper about the harassment of children with food allergies. Also a look into another world, one where kids are separated, taunted and threatened because they're different. It reminded me of when I was in elementary school, relentlessly bullied because I was different. It's sad to see that apparently, nothing has changed. And that these kids are facing not just bullying, but actually threats that endanger their lives? Makes you shudder.

Someone raised a crocodile. And then taught it to do tricks. I'm speechless.

Remember Rob Ford? One of the candidates in the race for mayor of Toronto, the guy who has no problem using the R-word in his campaign literature and who's famous - infamous? - for saying things that no one in their right mind would. Unbelievably, he has become the front-runner in the race and if he gets elected, I'm in for four years of high blood pressure. He's running on reducing waste at City Hall, really hitting that "we're overtaxed" button, despite the fact that the part of our taxes that go to the City is in the single digit percent. To prove this statement, does he trot out reports, statistics and the like? Nope. He says "everybody knows there's a lot of waste at City Hall." Right, Rob. Because that's what I want in a Mayor: someone who uses the "everybody knows" argument of stereotypes, not to mention padding his lies to gargantuan proportions. And as further proof of his… erm… I'm not quite sure how to phrase this, but let's call it lack of couth... class? Credibility? in that same article, he also refers to himself in the third person. More than once. Excuse me while I go bang my head against a wall.

And lastly I believe Gaina tweeted this one: F**k It chocolate.  Wonderful.