Green as a Thistle

When I casually mentioned a couple posts ago that I’d be interviewing Jake Gyllenhaal, I had no idea there’d be a tidal wave of his fans, mostly from iheartjake.com, rushing to my blog with a million questions for the star.

As it turned out, I happened to be his last interview that day, so after speaking for 15 minutes about his new film Rendition, there was just enough time for me to squeeze in a couple extra questions from the Gyllenhaalics. Here, below, are his replies:

Me: Many of your fans are wondering if you still have Boo, your puggle? They haven’t seen him in a while.
Jake: (After a few seconds pause, then a sigh of what sounds like lament, he looks to the floor and responds) “I don’t have my puggle … I don’t have my puggle.”

Me: Do you ever read anything about yourself on the Internet?
Jake: (Another pause) “Sometimes people send me funny things … I’ll leave it at that.”

Me: Do you know about the Jake in ‘08 presidential campaign? It was a MySpace page but it got taken down recently.
Jake: “Wow, no, I don’t.”

Me: I hear you’re really into food — how do you feel about cilantro? Some people love it but other people think it tastes like soap.
Jake: “Oh, I really don’t like cilantro! It’s like the only herb I don’t like.”
Me: It’s a very divisive herb.
Jake: “It is.”

And to answer some other, more general queries: Yes, he’s tall — about six feet; Yes, he’s definitely just as “scrumptious” in person (and a great dresser, unlike his friend and co-star Peter Sarsgaard, who wasn’t wearing any socks at the press conference); and, Yes, he still cycles (he even noticed a little chain mark on my leg and thought it was pretty cool).

Later, when he walked on stage at the press conference, he somehow managed to spot me in the crowd of journalists. Before he sat down, he pointed right at me and gave a little wink, which basically turned me to mush. And what did I do in response? The lamest, most embarrassing thing I possibly could’ve done: I smiled, and gave him the thumbs-up. Horrible. Straight out of Wayne’s World. Biggest regret of my life.

So there you go, guys. Hope that keeps you satisfied for the next little while. Maybe I’ll get to interview him again next year and we can reconnect.

Photo of Jake Gyllenhaal at the Toronto International Film Festival courtesy of iheartjake.com

The compost bin on my balcony has, so far, been a success. My worms are still alive, so that’s a good start, and I’ve been pretty careful about balancing the pH of the soil, making sure there’s a good variety of greens, starches, coffee grounds, egg shells, wet newspaper and so on. I stir it around every now and then, too, just to make sure it’s getting enough air.

But the downside is that if any fruit goes in there whatsoever, I’m guaranteed a whole swarm of those itty-bitty flies will invade and eventually sneak into my apartment, too.

However, I can’t exactly whip out the bug spray, especially not if I want to keep my precious wormies alive and pooping. So instead, I’ve decided to kill off the fruit flies in a more natural way: alcohol poisoning.

I poured a little (seriously, just a little — no way am I about to waste more than a drop of wine, even if it is cheap Ontario plonk) into a cup, then stuck a bit of cling wrap on top, poked some holes in it and perched it above my compost bin. It’s only been a few hours so I can’t report yet on the effectiveness of this strategy, but either way, I hereby pledge to continue using the greenest way possible to kill the crap out of stupid bugs.

Photo courtesy of Suertudo on Flickr