Je te rendrai suicidaire.

Christmas and Snow Are Love

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:51:47 GMT

Lookit the new icon I just made. LOOK AT IT. :D

I have tons of photography and art class stuff to post, will do eventually, in the meantime I am attempting to write a work of Serious Literature entitled le Vide (Emptiness in English) that demonstrates my existential and romantic views of the world through the eyes of a suicidal misanthrope who evades from society. *nod* Also, I am going to the Manitoba Legislative Building tonight to play violin for about an hour and a half. I’ll get paid $100. :o

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Le Rejet

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:21:03 GMT

Will you guys be participating in Buy Nothing Day (wiki)?

Participerez-vous à la Journée sans achat ?

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Google Wave — spiegazioni — environmental porn

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:51:00 GMT

1. Google Wave is actually brilliant, definitely deserving its hype. Add me at monsieurlapino@googlewave.com!

And for anyone wanting an invite, tell me in the comments (leaving your Gmail address—by private message or the like if you don’t want it posted publicly) and I’ll do my best to get you one. :)

2. Scusatemi di non essere online di recente; sto sempre chattando con il mio ragazzo, dapprima tutta la giornata, poi tutta la settimana, e poi tutto il mese. x_x Eh, non volevo una vita ad ogni modo!

3. Pour conclure sur une note joyeuse, voici un dessin que j’accomplis pour mon cours de géographie :

I reckon I’ll put it on my wall or something. That would make me happy.

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‘Luce dagli uccelli’

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:47:38 GMT

Excuse the poor quality; there wasn’t much light when I took the picture. (It’s on a big-ish canvas, so no scanning allowed.)

This painting depicts a bird’s tail, up close and personal. Ahem. My artistic license and I did ~~deform~~ change a few of its features. :D

Una più lunga spiegazione è pubblicata sul mio Lang8, se sei interessato; non lo sei.

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La volpe ti fisserà per sempre

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 01:40:41 GMT

The scanner cut it off. D:

(6B pencil.)

I’m rather proud of this one. ^^

(Pencil crayons and exactly two hours and thirty minutes.)

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‘Winter is definitely on its way,’ Harry said to Sirius for lack of anything more interesting to say

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 22:15:02 GMT

Day 6

~~Somewhat~~ intense.

Also, Eye-patch.

Day 7

I like this one. :)

Day 8
In which my lens is dirty without my realizing it.

Shoes.

~~Shoes~~ Shoe.

More thereof.

Moar.

You get the idea.

MORE.

Fin

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Photography Class, More Of; Because

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:18:56 GMT

In news unrelated to everything, I haven’t written a word for Brömhheir in nearly a month. D:

Day 3

(If you’re wondering, these are all taken in the forest behind my school.)

A bit of contrast added in Photoshop. (I’m specifying since it’s the only one I’ve retouched.)

Day 4
Which was unproductive beyond belief

Day 5

Hahahahahahahaha.

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‘Tis the crème de la crème photography, mec

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:36:37 GMT

Woo, stuff from the first two days of photography class!

Day 1
Which was sunny

Not much of a photograph; I just liked the texture. :D

There usually isn’t snow in September, but this was taken close to an arena—the big snow piles from previous years never fully melt.

Day 2
Which was really not sunny at all and had rain

Not much of a photograph either, but it’s cool, n’est-ce pas.

Me. :)

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Nous irons jusqu’aux étoiles (presqu’inconsciemment)

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 03:47:23 GMT

De quelque manière réussis-je à dessiner du Remus/Sirius comme si j’étais drogué, et qui, bon, qui te fait te sentir comme si t’es drogué.

C’est intense !

Click for a bigger version at my dA.
Now, ‘s anyone interested in writing accompanying fanfic explaining how this happened? xD

Dreamwidth . . .

Sat, 02 May 2009 18:20:13 GMT

My username at Dreamwidth is Scemo.

. . . yes it did take me more than four hours to find one I actually like. But I do like it. :] And it’s Italian for “idiot/idiotic,” which is always a bonus.

And for the record, it’s pronounced “chaymo,” not “ch-emo.” :D

So, yeah. Since it’s Not LiveJournal Anymore, I won’t make the same mistake I made with my LJ, meaning, It Will Indeed Be A Trilingual Journal. Hurray! (But not for you if you can’t speak Italian/French. :P)

I’m still not sure what will happen with the LJ, but I might just be moving away. Dunno.

Just some morons talking about homosexuality — nothing new

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 16:50:27 GMT

This is honestly one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen.

Then there’s this, which is quite . . . something. And this video response = pretty amazing. (Not that good at first, but it gets better. XD)

And look at how much I wrote in Italian!

Lastly: I can now start writing Brömhheir again, seeing as the musical’s finished!

Wait what I thought I was a calm person D:

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 06:48:34 GMT

OH MY BLOODY FUCKING BLOODY HELL

THE MUSICAL! IT’S DONE! IT’S OVER! IT’S FINISHED! IT’S—IT’S—IT’S MY BABY! IT GREW UP AND IT’S PERFECT AND THERE’S NOTHING LEFT TO CHANGE AND OH MY GOD I AM SO VERY PROUD OF IT.

Yay!

!!!

XD XD XD

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFff

!!

The Book of Badassity — Chapter 3: Language

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:21:49 GMT

This was written back in January—I forgot about it and never proofread it. Remember this for context. :)

As apostrophes have recently been banned from the second-largest city in England, I thought it was time to Do Something, meaning, write this chapter.

And this is a lie because:

1. I’m only writing this because I recently went to take a look at the Book of Badassity’s chapter list, and I was all, Hey, I am writing obsessively lately, but find that I don’t have enough of a variety to write, so why don’t I write another chapter! (That was about two minutes ago, says matt_writer at 3:33 p.m. on 31 January 2009.)

2. Then I went in the folder in My Documents that is creatively entitled “book of badassity” and looked through the various chapters I had planned out, and saw the one about language.

2.1. This is not a lie because:

2.1.1. It is true.

3. Hence, you are reading the Third Chapter of the Book of Badassity. Of of of.

I’m in a bit of a rush to write this, by the way, because potterfreak0515 and I are about to get married. Again. So don’t mind the typos, all right? Thanks.

Areas of language that will be covered in this chapter include, and are pretty much limited to, the word ‘moucharder,’ which is not even an English word; the word ‘whilst,’ which is very much an English word; and quotation marks.

You can see the ~~cultural~~ diversity that will be present here.

How I Was About To Start with the Section About ‘Whilst’ But Decided To Start With Quotation Marks Instead
Because I am a member of the clan that is called Canada, I have the right to do very funky things when it comes to quotation marks. Therefore, no, when I put single-stroke quotation marks, ‘thusly,’ it is not a typo or anything. As well, when I put double-stroke quotation marks, “thusly,” it is not a typo either! How brilliant and amazing.

That being said, I’m still going to do the Whilst section before the quotation-marks one. :D

Whilst
I used to be in a huge, huge fan of ‘whilst.’ That’s why in old entries such as this one, you will find (or you found, for a few special people) me underlining and bolding the “st” in the word. BECAUSE I WAS JUST THAT COOL.

Er . . . right, so ‘whilst’ is pretty cool, you know, especially when Pratchett’s Vetinari uses it.

. . .

I have nothing more to say about ‘whilst.’

This is me thinking.

Right, so you see, the problem with ‘whilst,’ of course, is that it adds Ss to English, a language that I find already has way too many “s,” “th,” and “f” sounds. Personally, I do as most French people do (not purposefully, of course), which is to say, I don’t pronounce the Ss at the end of verbs. “He walk” vs. “He walks,” etcetera. It’s really not intentional, really, it’s not, it’s not my fault if I ain’t able to speak no English, really, I’m doing the best I can! D: (Sometimes, I will say things like “hes walk” or “he walk quicklies.” Hearing me speak can be quite entertaining. Only, people’s reaction is usually to cry, not to laugh. It’s pretty bloody sad.)

Something interesting about ‘whilst’ is that it actually Holds Many Secrets. For instance, did you know that the Classic Spoon originates from it? (The Classic Fork, meanwhile, comes from ‘while.’) As well, by googling the word, you will find lefty posts about the NDP-Liberal coalition (that was, in fact, the second item in Google’s list, if you don’t count the definitions and the Debate of Is It While or Whilst). And the word ‘Harper’ is on the first Google page about ten times, partly because of the coalition, partly because of the Douglas Harper Dictionary, which should totally change its name to the Douglas Fucker Dicionary. (See? I knew that potentially useless entry’d come in handy one day.)

Superman positions aside, however, there’s not much more to say about The Power of Whilst.

The Power of Whilst
The Power of Whilst is the expression used (well, not actually used, but, you know) to talk about the Way Choosing Words Is Really Important, and How Some People Don’t Know It Is So Important.

For instance, saying “Whilst I choose which fruit I shall eat, you need to be patient” is completely different from saying, for instance, “While I watch y’all pick fruit, I won’t be no patient.” See what I’m sayin’?

Quotation marks
« Salut ! » Now that is stupid.

« Salve! » One of these moments Italian fails just as badly as French. Stupid stupid stupid.

“Hey y’all!” Now that is quite stupid too.

‘Hello chap,’ now, that, that is stupid too but in a somewhat more sophisticated, and therefore hardcore, way.

Y’know, I could start talking about accents, pronunciation, and the Power of Whilst, but really that’s all unimportant nonsense. (Except for the PoW, which is sensically important.) No, what really makes the difference here is the quotation marks we use.

I mean, why do you think they were invented in the first place, quotation marks? Because we pronounce the words inside the QMs slightly differently than those that are not quotationnated. (And don’t you dare look up that last word in a dicionary—or even a dictionary, for that matter.) And Brits pronounce them like ‘’ while Americans pronounce them “”. This may or may not be because Americans’ eyebrows are furrier. I dunno. All that reproducing-with-sheep can’t’ve done ‘em much good.

What is interesting is that Canadians’ eyebrows change. (We pluck them irregularly, I suppose.) Indeed, while (or whilst) the “” is our usual way to go, we’re supposed to ~~write~~ pronounce it ‘’ whenever it’s in the “a word such as ‘___’” context. For instance, I like the words ‘stupid’ and ‘you’ and ‘are,’ because they let me say, “You’re stupid!!!” See? Yeah. That’s right.

French people have their « eyebrows on their ears », though, which is both odd and ugly—at once!

Moucharder (moo-shah-rrrrrrrrr-day)
To tattle. “Je moucharde!” (“I’m telling!”) is pure awesome. Perhaps that is why French people tend to tattle more than English people; we just like saying the word, is all.

Of course, ‘moucharder’ is one of these words you never use aloud, which is quite sad.

“And whatnot”
Because it lets you be too lazy to actually think of the rest of the listable items but still make the point. “I like fruits such as oranges, grapefruits, and whatnot.” In this case, “whatnot” stands for “round thingies.”

I can’t get myself to think of a conclusion. Oh well.

This is therefore my conclusion:

Look back – Chapter List – Turn the page

I cackles merrily.

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 19:40:14 GMT

This is me rendering the last-last-last effect shot for the musical!

(Click for full version.)
Oh my god! I am done! Adhaskjfhakjhhajkfkhdw!

So, as per tradition, I now have to post two small shots of the movie.

Only, they aren’t very small this time.

ETA: Editing-wise, the first draft is now (aka at 4:59 p.m.) complete.

Icongazing

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 17:52:52 GMT

I really fail at posting Cuba!pics, don’t I. :/

Well, in the meantime . . .

An icon meme stolen from fera_festiva!

1. Reply to this post, and I will pick six of your icons.
2. Make a post (including the meme info) and talk about the icons I chose.
3. Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
4. This will create a never-ending cycle of icon glee.

	This icon is the handiest thing ever when it comes to trolls, “va-t-en” being French for “go away.” Sadly there are very few trolls around here, so I only get to use this on random things. Oh well! Jack is still badass, especially since he’s doing that at a crab!rock. Y’know, AWE really is the hardcorest thing ever.
	For the record, I made all the icons I have in the same day, and my sister was also in the room, doing her homework. She helped me out with this one. So, Todd and Lovett are officially the most dysfunctional couple there is. (They aren’t even a couple, FFS.) And while watching Sweeney, they sometimes remind me of Remus and Tonks—in this scene especially. If you don’t know, this is the scene in which Lovett talks (aka sings) to Sweeney about getting married and live by the sea, and in which Sweeney is mostly silent and miserable. It is one of my favourite scenes ever, except for Little Priest and the ending. :)
	I really hate this icon. It’s too blurry. But then again, it has its uses. :D
	cackles My favourite one! Now, this I can use at many, many times, especially since what Sweeney’s hand is on/in is left unsaid. As well, any moment of fail deserves this icon. I LOVE IT. And what’s fun is that the S and the L shots were taken from two completely different scenes, even though Sweeney actually is just in front of L in the L scene. I just liked S’s expression better in the other scene. XD (Lovett taken from “Epiphany,” Sweeney from a few seconds before “Little Priest.”)
	W00t for this icon! Barbossa is such love, and that scene in PotC is one of my favourites, and, and, and, ♥.
	I think the green flash is pretty brilliant. Plus, the colours are really nice, especially with my black-and-red layout.

2006-2008 demoreel

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 04:40:43 GMT

I am very nearly done the visual effects for the musical (which is now titled “Dans lequel des marins grelottent” because of potterfreak0515’s help—that is, “In which sailors shiver”). One more shot of VFX, I tell you! . . . It’s a somewhat hard one, though.

That being said, I started editing the thing around Monday. It’s turning out really great! I am super happy with the results! Four and a half minutes out of five are completed, but roughly. I’m looking forward to post it and see what people think.

(The film competition’s deadline is April 24, for the record, which gives me a pretty good amount of time.)

Aaaaaaanyway, the actual point of this post is that, well, okay: At Christmas I got Sony Vegas—which does editing—and it is brilliant, etc. When I got it, though, I had nothing to edit, and I was really eager to try it out (as well, I wanted to practise so as I’d not have to learn how to work with a new programme once I’d have to quickly finish the musical!). So I pieced together a little 20-second demoreel of visual effects I’ve done form 2006 to 2008. Some look quite n00by, and some are slightly better (slightly being the key word).

No more further rambling. This situation deserves some swearing at myself.

I apologize for the clips’ inconsistent aspect ratios.

Yes I did have fun making letters move. Yes it was the only reason I put them in the video. Why do you ask.

Men with healthy appetites remind Lovett of her dear Albert

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 03:58:15 GMT

Thanks to polkadotsnplaid for posting the textless pic on political_macro.

Studio intensivamente l’italiano

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 21:54:49 GMT

When we were in Cuba, seeing my sister speak Spanish so well to the locals made me start to regret having dropped my Spanish class. But then I told myself that I do think it’s an annoying language, and I do not like it, and I am not motivated to learn it.

And then I told myself that I’ve always been shamelessly fanboiy when it comes to Italian—I remember this phase I went through in fifth grade during which I’d decided I really needed to learn the language one day. So, as skilfully foreshadowed with things such as “I don’t like Spanish so I won’t learn it but I do like Italian oh my fucking god,” I am teaching myself Italian! Woohoo! In the past two days, I spent hours and hours on it, and it is so much fun and so addictive and I am learning so much—135 words/phrases so far, actually, with the help of this dashing (and free!) programme. Plus some googling. And now whenever someone mentions a word I know I know, I say it in Italian in my head, because I am that hardcore.

Speaking of hardcore, Italian is very hardcore.

So, yeah. My goal is to post a short fanfic by the end of the school year. With many wordreference.com-usage, I think it’d be doable. :)

Helena Bonham Carter kills me (emotionally, ‘course) by having a boyfriend D:

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 17:29:42 GMT

And the rec: fera_festiva wrote-‘n’-drew me the most amazing birthday present in the history of ever! It explains How Remus/Tonks Came to Be, which really is a tough one to explain. This, of course, makes it all the more stunning and brilliant. :D

potterfreak0515, if you want me to link yours as well, which I doubt, just say the word. :) And send me the link—the pic-uploader I use can’t handle images that size.

And as we’re on the subject of potterfreak0515, I edited this post because I’d forgotten to say that she’d betated me. I’M SORRY CRYSTAL, THAT WAS REALLY-REALLY-REALLY-REALLY RUDE AND OBNOXIOUS OF ME. D:

H2O, shot on what I wish were an HV20

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 00:59:43 GMT

I took a bath today! Well, sort of.

It was for the musical. Since there’s a shot at the end in which the sailors’ boat interacts quite a lot with the water, I needed to film water moving in certain ways.

First, I installed a blue blanket against which I’d shoot, so as the background would all be the same colour—thus making it (relatively) easy to digitally separate it from the water.

Then I ran the water . . . for quite a while . . .

. . . and once it was full, installed my crappy camcorder on a crappy tripod. And a light.

Then it was bathing-time! Bathing-suit-time! Splashing-time! Here’s a screenshot of what I got. (There are about thirty shots total.)

Although the water was quite cold—I didn’t put the hot tap on to save energy—the light was so strong that it was soon heated to a comfortable temperature.

Fun stuff. :D

‘Bloody hell!’ croassâmes-nous.

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 01:23:24 GMT

Back! The trip was amazing. I’ll talk about it as soon as I upload the pics. :D

Thus it seems that, for now, some IM goodness and a few French lines of having too much fun with verbs will do.

mattwriter316: And even if you were [gay], like, psh, fine, but that means that you get bloody bloody vaginas, and note the two “bloody”s.
Potter Freak 411: Ew
mattwriter316: Yes.

Potter Freak 411: But you’re just stereotyping now
Potter Freak 411: To say that America has NO intelligent people
mattwriter316: No! I’m ~*generalizing*~.
Potter Freak 411: What about immigrants?
mattwriter316: Immigrants don’t count as America, beacuse America is racist against them anyway.
Potter Freak 411: Only the Mexican ones
mattwriter316: And the Hindi.
mattwriter316: And the blacks.
mattwriter316: And the French.
Potter Freak 411: Not the Swedish
mattwriter316: That’s true.
mattwriter316: But Swedish people speak funny, and are tehrefore not intelligent.
Potter Freak 411: BORK BORK BORK

mattwriter316: The Québécois at the hotel were fucking OBNOXIOUS
mattwriter316: AND THEIR ACCENT
mattwriter316: OH MY GOD
mattwriter316: And one guy was humping a penis-representing long piece of bread!
mattwriter316: And they were loud!
mattwriter316: And they were always talking about sex!
mattwriter316: HILLBILLIES, I SAY
Potter Freak 411: Don’t be silly
mattwriter316: NO
mattwriter316: THEY ARE
Potter Freak 411: Hillbillies don’t talk about sex
Potter Freak 411: They NEVER talk about it
mattwriter316: Yes they do! Hilbillies have sex with sheep!
Potter Freak 411: That’s why there’s so many teenage pregnancies
Potter Freak 411: Yes, they have it
Potter Freak 411: But not talk about it
mattwriter316: And they talk. Both.
Potter Freak 411: No, they don’t
mattwriter316: YES THEY DO
mattwriter316: THE QUÉBÉCOIS DID
Potter Freak 411: I think I know more about hillbilllies that you do
mattwriter316: THEY ARE A DIFFERENT BREED OF HILLBILLIES THAN TEXANS ARE
Potter Freak 411: Considering I am AMERICAN
Potter Freak 411: And it’s not just Texans!
mattwriter316: THEY ARE A DIFFERENT BREED
Potter Freak 411: Take Tennessee!
mattwriter316: DIFFERENT BREED, I SAY
Potter Freak 411: FINE
mattwriter316: THERE
Potter Freak 411: *cry*

mattwriter316: D:<
Potter Freak 411: YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO USE THAT FACE
mattwriter316: WHOA
Potter Freak 411: I AM THE ONE WHO HAS BEEN INSULTED
mattwriter316: HOW
Potter Freak 411: YOU SAID PRATCHETT > JKR
Potter Freak 411: WHICH IS OBVIOUSLY A LIE
mattwriter316: NO
Potter Freak 411: THAT IS LIBEL
mattwriter316: PRATCHETT ROCKS MY WORLD
mattwriter316: AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT LIBEL MEANS
mattwriter316: SO THERE.

mattwriter316: They’re not soulmates.
mattwriter316: Sirius is . . . I hate Sirius so much.
mattwriter316: Hence me abusing him in my fics. XD
Potter Freak 411: .....................
Potter Freak 411: ....................
Potter Freak 411: ......................
Potter Freak 411: SDKHDHFJSDJSDFVHJ
mattwriter316: WHY ARE YOU NEVER PUTTNIG THE SAME AMOUNT OF PERIODS
Potter Freak 411: Because I’m not counting them!
Potter Freak 411): I just press the period key!
mattwriter316: Fail.
mattwriter316: You have to count them.
mattwriter316: Or else you become of these persons who only puts two periods for their ellipses.
mattwriter316: Which is epically tragic, let’s all admit it.

Nos joues étaient mouillées. Mais il semblait que nous avions reçu des coups sur la tête. On ne savait ce qui s’était passé.

Mais nos joues étaient toujours mouillées.

Nous baisotâmes-nous ? nous demandâmes-nous acrimonieusement. Osâmes-nous nous baisoter ?

Ça, c’était la question.

Burn — a fanfic (wut)

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 16:16:06 GMT

I’m leaving for Cuba at 2:30 today! Yay! I’ll miss you guys so much! But it’s gonna be so much fun! XD

I wrote a little fanfic yesterday. It’s really short, and I was about to make some art to go with it, but I won’t have time (I did try last night, but it failed epically). So here it is:

——————————
Burn

“So this is what Cuba’s like,” Sirius said, squinting with a hand placed against the sun.

“Oh dear Lord,” Remus mumbled to himself, in a kind of What the Fuck fashion. Then he turned toward his boyfriend to say, “Sirius, we’ve been here for five days already. It shouldn’t be such a surprise.”

. . . It takes time for Sirius to notice anything that doesn’t involve canine cuisine.

——————————
Bye now!!

The meaning of the universe explained — Once more, with fuckery

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 06:11:57 GMT

— It is the metaphysical barrier between existence and the meaning of who you are that creates a sense of superiority. —

Potter Freak 411: YOU — YOU ARE A MEANIE PANTS AND EGOISTICAL
Potter Freak 411: So an example of the English lagnuage beign stupid
Potter Freak 411: Egoistical means teh same thing as egotistical
mattwriter316: The English lag cloud be ign
mattwriter316: teh
mattwriter316: hahah
Potter Freak 411: And egoist and egotist
mattwriter316: n00b
Potter Freak 411: I. Hate. You.

Oh, how I ♥ this article. . . .

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:40:19 GMT

There’s an upside to being a fiscal and social conservative, even in a small-liberal country like Canada. Just ask Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Recently, the prime minister, two cabinet ministers and one MP strayed off the safe centre the party has doggedly clung to ever since the loose lips of three Alliance MPs sank the Conservative ship in the 2004 federal election by attacking abortion, the courts and bilingualism.

On March 12, Harper delivered a closed-door true-blue conservative speech to the Manning Centre for Building Democracy, a conservative think-tank run by former Reform Party leader Preston Manning. Most of it has become public. Some selections:

“These dangerous times require us to maintain a Conservative government and to govern according to conservative values… I like to summarize my idea of conservatism in three Fs - freedom, family and faith…

“And, my friends, don’t let anyone tell you that the opposition — that toxic coalition brew of Liberals, socialists and separatists — you know, I always wished they would do that and (former Liberal leader Stéphane) Dion finally did it — don’t let anybody tell you that they would have done the same things…”

“Instead of subsidizing court challenges by left-wing fringe groups, we are cracking down on criminals by providing support to victims…

“Instead of sitting on our hands when our allies are in peril, instead of polling the General Assembly of the United Nations, we are taking principled, unequivocal positions…

“Imagine how different things would have been if the Liberal left had remained in power… Imagine the bloated bureaucracy their daycare program would have spawned…”

On March 17, Minister of State for Science and Technology Gary Goodyear, an evangelical Christian, dodged when asked in an interview if he believed in evolution. “I’m a Christian, and I don’t think anybody asking a question about my religion is appropriate,” he said.

Later, seeking to squelch the growing chorus of concern from the scientific community, Goodyear said he believed in evolution. He then made matters worse by confusing the science of natural selection with lifestyle adaptation.

“We are evolving every year, every decade,” he explained. “That’s a fact, whether it is to the intensity of the sun, whether it is to, as a chiropractor, walking on cement versus anything else, whether it is running shoes or high heels, of course we are evolving to our environment. But that’s not relevant and that is why I refused to answer the question.”

Commentators have noted that under Goodyear’s watch, Ottawa has cut $147.9 million from the three granting agencies that fund pure scientific research at Canadian universities in favour of a hefty hike ($750 million) in funding for applied research at the Canadian Foundation for Innovation.

Simultaneous with the Goodyear controversy, Saskatchewan Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz, a fierce foe of the federal gun registry, came under fire for accepting an invitation to be the guest speaker at the Canadian Shooting Sports Association annual general meeting in Mississauga next month. The reason? The raffle prize is to be a Beretta semi-automatic handgun. To save its close friend further embarrassment, the gun lobby group withdrew the invitation.

But Harper has stepped into the breach. He addressed a meeting of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters last weekend and urged them to pressure opposition MPs to support Breitkreuz’s private member’s bill to kill the gun registry and, critics say, loosen rules for handguns as well as semi-automatic weapons. The prime minister was not deterred by the fact the group was also holding a gun raffle — this time, for a long gun.

Power seems to be going to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s head. He denies issuing but won’t reverse a Canada Border Services decision to ban controversial British MP George Galloway from Canada because he led a convoy of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Canada lists Gaza’s Hamas government as a terrorist organization. He abruptly terminated $2.5 million in contracts to the Canadian Arab Federation for teaching English to new immigrants because its president wants Canada to treat Hamas and Hezbollah as “legitimate organizations.” He then turned around and said immigrants who can’t speak English or French well should be denied Canadian citizenship.

Despite sliding off their safe centre, the Conservatives haven’t taken any real hit in their polling numbers. The hype around Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff notwithstanding, he hasn’t moved his party past Dion’s goalposts.

That’s the upside to being a fiscal and social conservative in Canada. Your hardcore of true believers number a solid one-third of the population; enough to win elections especially if you keep them energized. So what if you horrify the other, hopelessly divided, two-thirds of the population?

By Frances Russell

Instead of working on my poster about existentialism

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:43:10 GMT

It’s not even that I’ve run out of things to talk about. I’m just too busy! D: The (still untitled . . .) musical is taking over my life. I want to finish the visuals before spring break because I’m going to Cuba for Teh Break and don’t want any reason to be stressed about them. I finished about half the work in the past eight days—there are six days left. Not too bad. If I’m not completely done, it wouldn’t be a problem.

Oh, and if anyone has an idea as to how to title the musical (a description of which can be read through this link), that’d really be great . . . I can’t think of anything!