Can’t remember anything about ‘The Proposition’ except Guy Pearce resembling an emaciated saint with a pistol and the outback resembling raving death with a glint in its eye, metaphorically speaking. I remember a bit about coming out of the dark theater and standing gratefully in the sun for a full five minutes before I could walk home, though. Good movie. Must’ve killed some brain cells over the weekend. I blame the office Stampede party. Of course.

However, this should make up for the lack of a movie review: Weight Watchers Diet Cards, circa about 1974.

Even the disclaimer at the bottom is funny:

This made me scream with laughter. Well worth the forty-five seconds.

Tomorrow: my official review of ‘The Proposition.’

Many (the other kind of) capers over the Canada Day long weekend!

And I have proof!

The Royal Tyrell Museum, in case you forgot, is just incredibly awesome. I promise it’s much better than you remember, if you went there as a kid and were unimpressed.  For one thing, John Acorn the Nature Nut is in all the videos and games and promotional spots and so forth.  For another thing:

Wacky extinct proto-bison! And,

A dinosaur that died and dried up, which pulled its tendons and muscles into amusing positions shortly before it got covered with silt. And,

If you ever feel like you’ve got big hips, remember that Tyrannosaurs had it much worse than you. Also,

In Reptile World, they let you hold a snake! (Unfortunately, this picture was taken at the exact moment that she stuck her icy-cold head down the back of my tanktop. Snakes are great, but boa constrictors unsnapping one’s bra is less great.) Also,

A bunch of us had dinner at Milestones and these folks unfortunately ended up sitting across from me and my camera.

Then, some of us went over to KF’s place and learned a Saskie drinking game called ‘Yeehaw.’ To whit:

From left to right: “Hoe-DOWN.” “Gunfight!” “Haaaay-barn!” “Barn doors closed!”

There were lots more pictures, some of which I may put up tomorrow, but I’m slightly limited by having promised somebody that I wouldn’t post clearly-identifiable photos of him online. Also, one person kept dodging the camera all weekend. But yeah. Good times had by all.

On an unrelated note, I decided I’d finally preserve some of my photographs in case of a hard drive crash, so I put 140 pictures on CD and went to Black’s. Printing the whole whack of them cost just over $40, which is effing amazing considering London Drugs would have charged me more than twice that - and I got another free set of 5×7’s! Yay for Black’s!

I treated myself to lunch today from the Holy Grill, which is on Tenth Ave and…whatever street… you know, over by MEC? It’s run by a trio of achingly-hot boys (big thumbs-up) and the food is creative and delicious. Today I got the Pacific Panini, which is cream cheese, spinach, smoked salmon, red onions, brined artichoke hearts, and capers.

I love capers, but all I knew about them was that they were the pickled bud of some middle-eastern plant. So I decided to do a little research and discovered the following:

- Scientific name: Capparis spinosa

- Originally native to Mediterranean area; range stretches from Canary Islands to Iran

- Temperature hardiness range similar to olive trees (so much for Premee-brand Alberta-grown capers)

- Raw capers need to be brined or otherwise preserved to develop their unique flavour

- The flavour comes from methyl isothiocyanate (like mustards and some other brassicas)

- Pollination is via insects

Well, that’s your science lesson for today. Tomorrow: the other kind of capers. (Involving dinosaurs.)