The Holyrood Huddle

Hilarious story from Michael Ignatieff today in St. John's, if you missed it. He wants the Puffin (our noble seabird) to become the official symbol (or just animal?) of the Federal Liberal Party.

"They lay one egg (each year). They put their excrement in one place. They hide their excrement.… They flap their wings very hard and they work like hell. This seems to me a symbol for what our party should be."

Man, that guy is so full of shit, I couldn't love it any more. I think i'm figuring out why he missed the nomination— though entertaining, his pretentious academic humour is lost in politics. That said, Jean Chretien seemed to use similar remarks to great success... "euuhhh... a little pepper on my plate?"

The real question is which boat-tour operator los liberales chose to peruse fair Witless Bay. . .

Superbad is super-hilarious

Unlike most of you other pachucos i missed out on this summer's sleeper hit "knocked up." Luckily, another such "sleeper" hit exists, and let me tell you, it is wide awake.

Our own huddler-in-exile reviewed it here in the Scope. I didn't read past the first sentence, but that sentence sent me straight to the movay haus to check it.

Speaking of which, nina was nice enough to use her sweet gift-card to the Alamo Drafthouse...which, for the uninitiated, is a local cinema that supplies you with burgers, beer, and whatever your mind and stomach shall request.

Jules: You scratch our back and we'll scratch yours.

Seth: Well, the funny thing about my back, is that it's located on my cock.

Sooooo sweet.

Weather's changed

Update from Melbourne for my pachucos:

Weather here, normally a brisk 7-12 centigrade has improved to a lovely 24. This has been a terrible blow to jill, who recently invested our savings in a new coat (and hence the violence of her response to luke's last post), but a boon to me, now freed of wearing jill's mother's coat.

-Whut???

-Yeah, I was sporting her mother's coat for a good while, but now I amn't, so get off my back.

Also in the news is the janzegamor has moved to labrador, pictured here:

I do hope to hear more from other huddlers on these and related events!

Labels: Labrador

New York Pics

are up on me flickr. Man, Brooklyn is sweet.

One month in Toronto

Formal greetings from TO, where yours truly and Sue are starting to get settled away. We are situated in The Argyle Lofts, a newly finished building in the West End of what was the old city of Toronto. In the new Megacity of Toronto, we are just West of downtown. Our neighborhood is the midpoint between Trinity-Bellwoods, a nice neighborhood centred on a huge park, and Rua Acores, or Little Portugal. We are one block North of Queen St. West:

and near new "hotspots" like the Gladstone Hotel, which houses a nice restaurant, bar, and designer suites in case you want to stay in a boutique hotel:

To get an idea of where everything is, Google Maps to the rescue!

Sue starts work this week as a senior associate teacher with the YMCA, taking care of kindergartners when they aren't in class. I'm (hopefully) not taking any courses until the spring, but will be TAing and getting my PhD research started. More on that later!

P.S. I request formal updates from Janesy on his live in Goose Bay, and more pictures from one Mr. Quinton, on his time in Manhattan.

New York preview

more to come tomorrow. this, just to whet your appetite.

And, video 1 of 2.5, for those w/evil Fbook.

All You Had To Say Was 'Owen Wilson Befriends A Dolphin' And I Was Sold

In light of the Darjeeling Limited post below, this The Onion article is awesome.

So the dolphin helps Wilson fall in love? He splashes them, they get soaked, then they bond over hot cocoa while their clothes are drying—yeah, yeah, whatever. Look, you've already impressed the hell out of me, so don't worry so much about the little details. We'll work those out once we've got a voice for the dolphin, and I'm thinking Mr. Robin Williams. Am I right?

Click for all.

Welcoming me back to cyberspace: with apologies to Jason Bourne

Hey pachucos, Tom here, living in a Melbourne but in a new hood fuckers!

Yes, yes, we've moved into an apartment and I can now say that indeed Phil and Sue's condo, which there is no doubt is sick, is also smaller than my apartment. Indeed our apartment is so large, members of both cory and jaboc's families could conceivably enter. Not in practice of course, but in the sterile world of physics, it would indeed be a possibility.

As for not respecting the information flow on facebook, that's because i've had my eyes glued on one facebook user to the exclusion of all others. Who? None other than my little alter ego, Tom Crosbie! Here's a quick sample of his newest information-superhighway j-turn:

///I was prompted to set up this group whilst in the pub!!! Where the chuffing hell did Douglass the butter man go. He was an absolute ledged. And I think its time for his return, if loads of people show they feel the same then the lady that can (jess) will get him back. I’m sure of it.///

Who is this other Tom Crosbie, and who the chuffin' hell is Douglass the butter man? Indeed the former is a fellow facebooker who looked me up as we have the same name. And so I follow his exploits on the cybernet, leaving no room for this blog. (The latter is a butter man of the non-cocoa variety and hence of no interest to cocobutter's procreation regimen.)

In other news, I'm currently submitting my apology to one Jason Bourne. I recently scoffed at one of the residents of LeMarchant Rd (I can't tell them apart anymore) who mentioned that he was in essence a more excellent version of Bond. The bourne movies have been playing on the telly here and indeed Bourne is pretty wicked.

Now, the whole Cocobutter fiasco to do with birthdays and being forgotten... Alls I can say is that that's woman's work!

Furtherto my earlier point, I'll conclude by saying that Bourne is fairly sweet, little Tom Crosbie is the chuffin' man, and alls well that ends well...

What are them Melbournians at?

I want to know what them Melbournians are at. To follow are our own escapades in Toronto thus far, including Google Mapification of sites of interest.

T+J, what is the news? (Also, see here for a candid of the two of you that I quite like.)

Wedded Bliss

Tis four days short of a month since our wedding. Thanks to all who came to celebrate with us and to those who had a part in the ceremony (thank you cards are coming your way soon)! We thought we'd share some of the professional pictures with you. So look, ohh-and-aww, and relive the day all over again. :D Love, the Johnsons.

newfotos

i can't believe ive come across another impressive photographer working on Newfoundland subjects. I mean, i can believe it, but i think, looking at the quality of the work that you'll just be blown away by this guy. In a way, it's about time we had a true presence in the world of the art-photograph, Newfoundland pictures being, (in general), so derivative, often inapropriately scenic, and, in the case of people like Ben Hansen, being generally crappy; shot with no regard for technique or light. Our painting and mixed-media is first-class, so the more of this, the better. Can anyone think of a truly talented Newfoundland photographer? Fill us in.

This also pertains strongly to the Huddle, as it's from his exhibit at the Christina Parker Gallery (possibly a book as well?), called All The Clubs From Holyrood To Brigus. He's also a visiting philosophy prof at NYU, and he's done some stuff i recognize from a book he did about resettlement. (Why are all the good photogs all CFAs? Do we have a peculiar way of underestimating some of the Newfoundland "scenery?")

Check out Scott Walden's photosite.

New York Map

Thanks to Jacob for the idea: our recent New York Map.

No, it's okay. I understand.

I can't believe you all forgot my birthday. I mean it's one thing to miss Sue's birthday, but mine. Me. Moi. Whatev, it appears as though facebook has begun to kill the huddle anyway and since I 'ate's facebook I guess our online friendships have come to an end. Hopefully I'll see you all in person again some day. Janesy, are you going to Jordan's on Friday? Do you want to see Bourne Ultimatum with me and Brad on Thursday? I'll try to call you but I'm sure that that'll will prove a waste of time.

The New News

The New News from New York is this: Life is sweet in 1 of the 5 Boroughs. Josh and I are subletting a sweet place in Midtown East in Manhattan until he can move into his place on the 15th. So we've been having a good time, though J has just started working for real, and of course it's no fun starting out working for the man, but it'll improve in the next week or so.

So, Nina, I and Josh landed on the same day, in a hilarious bout of Nina and I missing our flight the previous day. This was the greatest thing that ever happened to us. We went to the Rooms for free after going the night previous and finding out that it closes at 5 on Mon. & Tue. So when we went on Wed? it was free. hahaha.

But the reason we missed the flight? Well, we were late. We got there about 35 mins. before the flight, knowing we might've missed it (this having happened to me before, I could basically care less), So, knowing this was all our faults (let's face it: it was mine), we arrive to an empty Continental desk. Not just "hey, let's wait around a minute, someone'll show" more like "we were out of here a while ago, losers" It was completely empty.

Anyway, long story short, we miss it, and then 3 (THREE!) chicks come down from upstairs wondering what all was going on... hahaha. what a load.

So, we got to fly out the next day. Pimp for us.

So, anyway, we all landed in EWR on the same day, which was grand. I'm shocked how much I like this city. It's monstrous: every turn yields an entirely different neighborhood and group of crowded streets and shops. After we dropped off our bags, we went walking by Josh's work, and wandered upon 5th Avenue and Central Park, then to FAO Schwarz (the famous toy store) to dance on the piano from the Tom Hanks movie (I'm lookin' at you, janesey), next, we were at the entrance to Trump Tower, where all the schmoes get kicked to the curb (everything is awesomely gold... gilded, i'd say), not to mention the flagship store for every designer and business in the world. Being here is retarded; you trace a bizarre line between your memory from movies, and the actual environs.

I won't go on, you get the idea. It's been overwhelmingly cool. Josh's place is gonna be really nice, and people have been really helpful, if moving quickly on packed sidewalks. Nina left a few days ago, after we tore through the town in search of Pale Male, ran through MOMA (UN-believable) and won a broadway lottery (which we subsequently gave away). And essentially because i can do it at this point in my life, I'm gonna hang on until the 21st and get Josh settled into his actual apartment. A Corollary of this is a huge bonus: Huddler Salama will be joining us! Boo-ya! Take that urban predatory bird!

*also, just added a link to the James Baird gallery where we were in search of Robert Clarke-Davis' photo exhibit. We missed it, but instead stumbled across an exhibit by Catherine Beaudette, and the artist actually setting up her work (the gallery- in Pouch Cove- is a weird friggin' place, but also wicked, y'know.) Her work takes a few mins. to acclimatize, but I think it's rewarding to go check it out for those in town.