The Simpson Blog

Our ongoing tour of Halifax restaurants continues. Recent weeks' noshing included: Milano's on Chebucto Road. The first BYOB restaurant in Halifax. We didn't BOOB, though. I had a delicious fresh-made manicotti with beef. The restaurant is built into an old home. The decor wasn't anything spectacular, but it wasn't busy, and the food was lovely and tasted authentically Italian (not that we've been to Italy, but, y'know, it tasted more authentic than East Side Mario's). Sweet Basil Bistro came recommended. A nice bistro in the Historic Properties district. The menu wasn't huge and involved, but the food was mighty good and portion sizes were generous. Amanda enjoyed a lobster fettucini dish, and I had a Pad Thai brimming with fresh veggies. After dinner, we took the pedway over to the casino and won $75 on the slots, to be spent later on pedicures for the both of us. Woo! Nice feet! The Watefront Warehouse was a spur-of-the-moment choice after

I was Googling "bigasssuperstar" today and stumbled upon something I hadn't seen before: a message board posting on the web site "in the 00s" on the topic of "Top 25 Worst Cover Songs of All Time." And yours truly is mentioned. A poster named Apricot writes: Ever heard of BigAss Superstar? Oh God, they suck. They took people's request for covers, and did covers of the most obscure artists. They covered Ween, and DEAR LORD IT SUCKS. Like Tom Petty's Beck cover sucking. They have a horrible, metallic, robotic even, voice.If You're Feeling Self-Destructive, Look At "Sarah", "P-ss Up A Rope" and "Big Jilm". You Have Been Warned Well! I admit, "Sarah" is virtually unlistenable. It's pretty brown. Very brown. Drizzlingly. But "Big Jilm" was the hit single, man! I love that tune! I'm flattered that Apricot thought I'm a "they", even though we were just me, up really late

Every day at noon, a cannon is fired on Citadel Hill, which is across the street from the apartment. Today's shot was so loud, the cats scattered -- mine went and hid, Amanda's sat and look afraid. But then, seconds later, another blast. Then another. Must have something to do with Victoria Day. Here's video shot after I took some photos (see the BigAss Photo Gallery for those). NOTE: This is not the normal noon cannon. The noon cannon is much louder.

Back in March, we took Amanda's kitty "Kitty" to the groomer for a trim. I tossed together some clips for a short presentation. Here it is. (Small picky note: I re-rendered it for YouTube, and the soundtrack didn't come out the same as in the original. So the segment with the wind noise isn't intended to be so frickin' noisy.) Enjoy. Update: I went over to YouTube after realizing that Google Video makes ya wait for videos to be approved. Well, it's been approved, so you can see it over on Google Video, too .

We've been changing our eating habits in recent weeks, with great enthusiasm and joy. Amanda's seeing results. The scale shows none for me, but my pants keep falling down, so maybe there's a rearranging of bodily materials going on. I haven't done the explicit math on how many calories I've saved with the daily changes... so, let's see what I can come up with on the spot. Morning chocolate milk : switched from 500ml 2% to 375ml 1% with added calcium: 360 calories vs. 240 = 120 saved. Kaiser-bun sandwich switched to wrap (spinach, or garlic pesto, or flaxseed): dunno how many calories. Switch from big bun to thin wrap, so that's gotta be something. Switched from Kraft skim-milk processed cheese to Montarey Jack Jalapeno cheese in wrap. Romaine lettuce stedda iceberg. Added onions and red peppers. That's gotta be good for something. Muffin: switched from banana/chocolate chip to Liz Pearson's super-healthy banana/chocolate chip colon-blow muff

I'm not watching a whole lot of TV any more. Having BeyondTV lets us record selected shows and watch 'em later, whether it's later that night, later in the week, or much later when the hard drive is nearly full. The only thing we seem to watch live any more is the news before bed. TV used to be a big part of my life as a bachelor, but now that I'm working later hours and me 'n my lady have Better Things To Do a lot of the time, the ol' Radiation King has taken on a smaller role. So, just the for the helluvit, here's what's on the regularly recorded viewing schedule lately: Jeopardy . Every weeknight. Except Wednesdays, when CTV pre-empts it for more "important" programming which we don't happen to watch. CSI: Original Flavour. Kinda like Law & Order, but with science nerds in place of wiseass cops. This show must have been on forever, since I keep seeing new episodes I've never seen. Law & Order: SVU, known around the hous

We've been going out for dinner on Friday nights for most of the time we've lived here in Halifax, but in recent months, I've tried to make the extra effort to pick a nice restaurant for a more romantic start to the weekend. Something more fine-dining than Swiss Chalet, but not Da Maurizio every week. We've tried a few great restaurants in town: Il Mercato on Spring Garden Road. A busy Italian restaurant with a nice atmosphere and decor. We've tried the pork tenderloin, the steak, the lamb, and a delicious bruschetta. Jane's On The Common is a small place with a window on Halifax Common, a big greenspace in the centre of the city. Small and cozy. The food was artfully presented and full of flavour. Vivo Bistro on Windsor Street was recommended by a coworker. It's on the main floor of a big old house. The food was pretty good -- I had a chicken curry -- but the room was rather loud. Restaurants on the local to-do list include Sweet Basil, Duffy'

Reuters reports: The original theatrical versions of the first three "Star Wars" films are finally coming to DVD on September 12, two years after diehard fans blasted George Lucas for releasing only the digitally modified 2004 versions of the celebrated trilogy in a boxed collection. That's gonna be tough to figure out, 'cuz as any genuine, fanatic, how-have-I-ever-gotten-laid Star Wars nerd knows, it's hard to figure out which version of the original Star Wars is the "original" version. There were multiple audio mixes at the very least, and tiny things were changed with each theatrical re-release. Tiny things like Aunt Beru having a different voice, whether or not the stormtroopers say "close the blast doors!" as they're chasing Han and Chewie through the Death Star, whether C3P0 comments on how shutting off the tractor beam will let the heroes get out ... petty stuff like that. But, we are reassured, Han will indeed shoot Greedo first