Home
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 2272
Now the film is interesting, the artwork and the cave fantastic - but what makes this film unique, better than, say, the same sort of polished documentary that might be done by the National Geographic Channel, are the idiosyncratic experts, the intrusion into the documentary by the questions and comments of Herzog himself, the bringing of a Master Perfumer to sniff the rocks around Chauvet in the quest for other undiscovered caves, the failed efforts of an archeologist to persuade viewers that the throwing of the Atlatl could bring down a deer or a bison ("they must have been better at it..." chastises Herzog as the dart lands not far from the camera...).
Amusing, and - if you're into that sort of thing - very, very good.
Other related links of interest: Wiki on Venus Figurines, Wiki on Cave Painting, Wiki on Paleolithic Art, Paleolithic Flutes.
Partying with Customers
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Conversations
- Hits: 1798
Now as insane as the nights out with staff are (and they are - completely - entirely - predictably insane), there's another group of people the staff occasionally party with - that's the customers.
And these stories, they're completely fucked up.
Completely.
The girls - waitresses, have a few - dropping off drunken customers, popping in for a drink (and who, after all, isn't curious how the other half lives?) - mad groping with drunken older men, strange exhibitionists, ridiculously weird circumstances that they're loathe to confess but must make their working life a bit of a hell - the customers, the male ones anyways, generally transparent in their ludicrous expectations.
And there's the Nephew and G, who've probably created as many stories amongst the female clientele as the male customers did amongst the female staff.
There was a time, rumours, of a previous manageress who - for a small (or large) sum of money and the right amount of wine could be bribed into certain acts, but she's long gone. Still, you only need to get lucky once and you'll try and try again, and I'm not certain that our current employees are above the same sort of prostitution, their shock and awe more directed at the lack of material benefit than at the preceding invitations...
The boys, they've been out with the women, then there's the big night out with the male customers, a group of well-heeled regulars who take G and the Nephew along for a late night, talks of blow, the calling of prostitutes and the reputed dubious sexuality of the one customer who declined to partake, passing his along to another and contenting himself with watching in a housecoat....
I've never been on any of these excursions, late night safaris with customers, my rather aloof demeanor keeps me safe from any invitations and when they come I merely treat the customer as drunk and help them to call a cab. It's not worth giving any of them a ride home, I have to trust the second hand reports, they are - if anything - dumbed down for my consumption.
Sitka to Prince Rupert, Home
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 2173
And that's the vacation. Rain the entire ferry ride, finally clearing an hour before Prince Rupert. Customs, and a few days drive home to Calgary.
We stop and look for Opals again, collect more, we drive to Edmonton and visit family, then to Calgary.
The trip - too rushed, the daughter too young, and perhaps - almost certainly, in fact, this was the trip I was to make on my own - she was good company - family, the family that you create, always is, but for me this was a reconnaissance for another trip that will see me prospect the great white north and find, if not treasure, at least some small peace of mind and spirituality that's been desperately missing from my day to day life.
i'll have to work in radio....
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Conversations
- Hits: 1846
It's staff tryouts, we've just hired a pile of new staff and are trying them out one by one to see how they'll work.
This one, she's a pretty young student, of east Indian descent, she's going to be a broadcaster. She's studying at SAIT and wants to work part time, that's perfect, we have a part time position available....
Now she's pretty, and that's not a good thing, because the staff - read the Nephew and G - will probably overlook any number of imperfections in their quest to get her into bed. This works for them, me, I'm a bit more cynical, I want someone who can work - and work fast and well.
That's just me. I'm insane.
So they're chatting her up, ice-skating is the topic, she talks about her dread about falling on her face:
"I could fall on my face....ON MY FACE...then what would I do? Work in Radio?"
I only overhear these things, I don't make them up.
Page 870 of 1106