existence could only ever be excused by its concept being a make-a-wish request from a now-dead six year old. Alas, there are no dead six year olds to blame for that monstrosity.
Generally described as "the Citizen Kane of bad movies." The lead actor, who non-coincidentally wrote and directed it, is a man of mystery, delusion, and apparent brain damage after one or more car accidents. He has competing desires for fame and a compulsive privacy regarding his past life and current location. He is inexplicably wealthy, after getting his start in California selling toy birds (Oiseau [Wiseau]) on the San Francisco waterfront.
His real name and national origin were matters of speculation for about a decade, but if you were to guess "a transylvanian got hit by a Paris bus and then moved to Louisiana and losing his shit" it would be close to the mark (Oh hai, Mark).
Watch the movie for what it is. If you need to delve deeper, read "The Disaster Artist" which is the (ghostwritten) memoir of his co-star and sometimes roommate. (The guy who played Mark)
Years ago someone on Reddit tracked down parts of his birthplace and history.
Having moved to Canada as a 23 y-o with a valuable (NAFTA approved) skill set that got me a quick but temporary work visa. Hahahahaha. No.
At the time, the process for landed immigrant status took 2 years and $1,500 in 1996 money (neither of which I had to spare).
My best advice is to look at the official immigration website. If you feel like there's some special loophole, consult an immigration lawyer from Canada. It will be worth the money, even if they can simply spell out the reasons why you shouldn't waste your time.
Also - good luck finding housing in Canada. It was bad in 1996 and hasn't gotten better.
Not that I know of, although he does seem almost aggressively nice? Surely he's hiding something.
Since you mentioned the possibility - I've never had an actual Foley encounter, but one time while at a restaurant in TO in the early 2000s we were pretty sure we spotted Dave Foley in full Kathy costume at the next table. I'm sure it wasn't him, but sometimes we talk about that time "we saw Dave Foley's mom" at the restaurant down the street.
Couple of things that I've observed. It's a combo of shit design and poor human behavior.
-the ones in an office setting take an absolute fuck ton of abuse from people who can't reload paper or replace an ink cartridge; I have seen punching and slamming on the regular
-as a corollary to the above, no one fucking trains workers on copiers. The workers have to figure it out on their own. Violence is a natural response.
-as a secondary corollary to the above, you can absolutely fuck with hated colleagues by removing their names from the user list simply by using the manual keypad (or changing the name from TooBeeSan to TooBeeNasty)
-the ones in a home setting are persnicketty about color toner and are shit at Bluetooth connections (and thus also take a fuck ton of abuse)
I've said it before, but he was good in Fear Factor. I don't like Rogan, but it's like this man was born to convince aspiring actors and models to eat maggoty cheese or sort tarantulas with their mouths.
"C'mon, man. I know you want that key!!! Get in there!!! Pick up those spiders. You've only got seven and you need at least nine to beat Brock. The clock is counting!!!"
I had a professor whose ice breaker question was some version of, "what book do you want to write/planning to write?" Everyone seems to have one.
Might not be as relevant today after blogs perhaps cleared that out of peoples' systems.
As for me, I cycle through mostly craft-based hobbies. Embroidery, leather work, candle making, 3D printing. I can make candles much faster than I can burn them, so that's self-limiting. 3D printing is great to have the materials and skills for, and I'm slowly learning to design in Blender. But at the moment I only use it when I suddenly need to have a thing-a-ma-widget and remember: "hey! I've got a 3D printer. Of course I can make a valve stem cover!"
I'll probably be back to leather crafts as we head into the fall and winter.
My friends in Italy have told me that it's not normal to change your surname after marriage. They could be messing with me, though. They're mildly evil.
I went from a "normal" western last name that was ethnically coded (like McCoy) to another ethnically coded name (like Nguyen, or - um - Fink).
My options were to keep a common and dull name that I share with people I don't like, get a new one (that I'd need to spell to every customer service representative ever), hyphenate (HELL NO), or make up something new (which would involve a shitstorm among relatives on both sides.)
The only real options were A and B. I was undecided until we were leaving the county courthouse after we were married. He asked me "are you going to change your name?" He didn't care. He thought it was a weird custom and was curious. And I realized - this is an opportunity. It's a relatively easy and socially acceptable way to shed your old name.
I took it.
The new name honestly messes with quite a few people who are meeting me for the first time, and it's interesting to see how they react. I've had people ask straightforward questions (I prefer that - there's an easy and straightforward answer), get half-way through a straight-up racist comment before they stutter to a stop (helps me get to know them), get all the way through a racist comment (again - helpful to know where you stand), or just not comment at all (just fine by me).
I've found that it's not the worst way to get a read on someone.
tldr: part spite, part novelty, part legitimately helpful when your profession means you need to meet strangers and get a quick read on their personality/potential biases/willingness to be straightforward when there's no reason to be weird about it
My colleagues from Europe are always fascinated by Wal-Mart. They walk the aisles and usually buy an insane printed t-shirt or blanket as a souvenir. They also like to stock up on "American snacks," so that accomplishes a few things with one trip. Pop tarts, corn chips, maple syrup - just things with a different flavor profile or philosophy of what counts as "food." And Pork Rinds (aka chicharrones) are fried pig skins. Somehow I can never quite persuade them to get those.
Tex-Mex and BBQ are the two biggest food recommendations for Texas. BBQ may include beef brisket or chicken. If you're keeping a halal diet, just be aware that these restaurants may incorporate pork into seemingly vegetarian choices, like collard greens or beans.
One tip: you can usually ask a restaurant to make a substitution to a meal and they will be happy to oblige unless it's integral to the cooking process. For example, you can ask for a bacon cheeseburger with no bacon, but you can't ask for beans without pork because it's more like a soup. (Sorry if this seems obvious, but my coworkers from EU are super reluctant or shy to ask for modifications. In the US it's considered perfectly normal to make this type of request.)
Since Houston is reasonably close to Louisiana, you may be able to find a decent Cajun style restaurant. Very regional and very delicious.
I've heard that you can find shark teeth on some of the local beaches, but they also just sell them at Murdoch's, which is a gift shop in/near Galveston.
Right? Round isn't what I'd think to call "a funny shape." Maybe some folks do though.