Right about now, my sister should be giving birth to deVilla-Choi boy #3. More details as they come in.
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Category: It Happened to Me
Paul relaxes in Deenster’s kitchen, December 2004.
My housemate Paul sets off today for a summer-long trip to Europe, where he’ll divide his time between vacationing and working on a web application called Campsite.
He’ll start off in Prague, then spend some time in Warsaw, and his final weeks will be spent in Paris. Safe journey, Paul, and may you meet someone (or hey, many someones) cute!
Paul’s departure has another dimension; it marks the end of our time as housemates, as my other housemate Rob is getting married in October and I’m doing the same in September. This marks the end of an era: my time at this address, known to some as “Big Trouble in Little China”. Paul’s stuff has been moved into storage (he’ll look for a new apartment upon his return in September) and Rob and I will move out in a matter of weeks. I’ve lived here since summer 1999, making this the longest I’ve lived at one particular address since moving out of Mom and Dad’s house. Thanks to the accordion, I’ve become a bit of neighbourhood character, and I’m going to miss being able to roll out of bed and land in one of Accordion City’s most lively districts.
While I am looking forward to moving out to share a home with Wendy, I’m going to miss this lovely ol’ bachelor pad.
What with the departure of my housemate Paul for Europe for the summer,
my housemate Rob getting married to his girlfriend Leslie in October,
and me and Wendy getting hitched in September, the time has come for
all of us to seek new places to live. What that means is that my house,
71 Sullivan Street, Suite 1 — a stone’s throw from Queen and Spadina,
Chinatown, the AGO and loads of nightlife — is going to be available
this summer. Consider this blog entry the first announcement, with
details to follow.
Among its features, which I’ll go into detail in a later entry:
- Lower half of historic brick house — 1st floor and basement
- Three bedrooms — 2 decent-sized, one small
- 2 full bathrooms with full tub/shower
- Washer and dryer
- Kitchen has microwave, oven, stove, dishwasher, fume hood
- Exposed brick walls and hardwood floors in the living and dining rooms
- Back patio leading to garage
- The damned coolest house on the block
Here are some photos of the place, taken in 2003:
The living room, viewed from the front door, looking into the house.
The living room, viewed from the other side.
A close-up of the living room near the front of the house.
The kitchen, looking one way…
The kitchen, looking the other way.
The dining room, as viewed from one side…
…and the other.
Rent is $2100 a month. My housemates and I currently split in this fashion:
- Bedroom on main floor (features south-facing glass wall): $835
- Bedroom in basement (largest, 2 huge closets, built-in-shelf area): $725
- Small bedroom in basement: $525
You pay for electricity and gas, water is currently covered by the landlords.
The expected date for this place to become available is July 15th.
Interested? Email me at joey@joeydevilla.com!
Bay Street Video (1172 Bay Street, just south of Bloor) is one of the best damned video stores/rental shops in Accordion City.
Not only does it have a great selection of videos — many of which
you’ll never find at your local Blockbuster — but the staff are free
to make their own comments about their library:
(And yeah, while most reasonable high school nerds
deplore the acts of those two yobs at Columbine, you’d be hard pressed
to find one of us who didn’t fantasize about visting some high-velocity lead retribution on their jock tormentors.)
Just Saw the Movie
I’ve just come back from the 12:01 a.m. screening of Revenge of the Sith, which was fun to watch and will probably rate a close second to The Empire Strikes Back in my books.
Getting in was much easier than I thought. My housemate Paul bought
tickets from the nearby Festival Hall theatre at noon. He reported that
there were already a dozen people — “one of them a girl!” — lined up
outside the theatre.
We showed up at the theatre — an easy four blocks from the house — at
about 10:30 p.m.. I was expecting crowds and queues, but Festival Hall
seems to have taken a new tack. All the theatres, at least a dozen in
total, were slated to show Sith at 12:01. Rather than make people wait
in line, they simply didn’t show any movies that evening and let people
wait in the theatres. It made for a more comfortable and relaxed experience.
The Canadian Parallel
If you check the right-wing pundits, you’ll see that a number of them have commented negatively about the unsubtle jabs that Revenge of the Sith
takes at the Bush administration. Lucas handles this with the subtlety
of Ron Jeremy in a room full of porn stars and pork chops. What might
not be as apparent is the unintentional parallel to the current
situation in Canadian politics.
Telling the story of Anakin’s switching from Jedi to Sith is a tricky thing to do in two hours’ worth of movie,
especially if you’re a leaden storyteller like George Lucas. I’d have
said that Anakin’s conversion for the sake of attaining greater power
was contrived and could never happen in real life…
…that is, if it weren’t for
this week’s real-life example of Belinda Stronach making a quick and unexpected switch from the Conservatives to the Liberals, surprising even her boyfriend Peter MacKay
(the Deputy Leader of the Conservatives!). I can imagine MacKay, who’s
taking time out at his father’s farm to reflect, screaming like
Obi-Wan: “You were supposed to be the Chosen One!“
Aunt Beru!
Let me just say that although she gets all of 10 seconds’ worth of screen time, Aunt Beru looks really good in this movie. Hot. Makes me wonder why Uncle Lars is so damned grumpy. Too bad she gets killed by stormtroopers in the next movie.
Attack of the Bones
I was beginning to regret not bringing a book or magazine to kill the
hour and a half while sitting in the theatre when we found Paul’s
friends from his taekwondo class sitting several rows back. One of them
had brought a laptop and the Attack of the Clones DVD. The following is a reasonably accurate transcript of the conversation that took place as we watched the DVD:
Paul: Friend 1, you know my housemate Joey, right?
Friend 1: Accordion Guy! Hey, take a seat. Watch the DVD.
Friend 2: Joey, you know Star Wars, right?
Me: I know a few things, but some of the fans here probably know waaaay more. Like that guy dressed up as Darth Maul with the red lightsaber.
Friend 2: What’s up with Anakin and Padme? Why are they trying to stay away from each other?
Friend 1: And when do they bone?
Me: Right between Episode II and Episode III.
Friend 2: They gotta bone. I mean, I’d bone Natalie Portman.
Me: Yeah, she’s cute.
Friend 1: Dude, they have to bone — that’s how you get Luke and Leia.
Friend 2: Why don’t they bone in the movie?
Me: Because it’s against the rules.
Friend 1: Jedi can’t bone?!
Me: That’s the rule — no attachments.
Friend 2: I’ve boned chicks I wasn’t attached to.
Me: I don’t think that’s how the rule works.
Friend 1: That means a Jedi could bone if she wasn’t, like, his girlfriend or if they were married.
Me: No, I think the rule is “no boning”.
Friend 2: Jedi can’t bone? Shiiiiiiiiit.
Me: Yeah, I’d be a deadly warrior too if I weren’t allowed to bone. Cutting people and moving shit with my mind.
There’s a brief pause.
Friend 1: You sure they don’t bone in the movie?
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I’ll Let Sass Drive
Postmodern Sass, everyone’s favourite sprachspiel, has the lowdown on Monday’s Kickass Karaoke.
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"This Party’s Over!"
In yesterday’s entry, titled I am Mace Windu, I gave away an important plot point about Revenge of the Sith
without providing the customary spoiler warning. A small number of fans
patiently awating the movie’s release have been on me like flies on a bantha, and rightfully so. The oversight has been corrected, and my apologies to the fans.