http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,2044599,00.html
A fairly interesting article about technology and music. I was intrigued by Peter Gabriel’s ‘Filter’ technology.
Also, Trent Reznor has hit the nail on the head.
iplaying: Every Inambition – The Trews – House of Ill Fame
Last night Krista and I watched Talladega Nights which was a barrel of laughs. This is part 2 of Will Ferrell’s (or Will Pharell for those of you in the know) ‘American Man’ trilogy which started with Anchorman and which will (perhaps) end with him being an astronaut – the American dream.
So Will Ferrell is Ricky Bobby, a NASCAR driver whose slogan is “If you ain’t first, you’re last!”. He is the king of the castle in the world of NASCAR until something happens and then he is afraid to drive again. So then the rest of the movie is based on his attempts to rise again to stardom.
Hilarious performances by Sasha Baren Cohen (of Borat fame) as Jean Girard – the Formula One racer coming over to claim Ricky Bobby’s title. I think Sascha Baren Cohen is the most hilarious comedian on Earth at the moment and everytime he spoke I just cracked up.
Hilarity ensues throughout the entire movie in the level of absurdness. If you enjoy any other Will Ferrell movies, you will (of course) love this one as it just pushes the limits. I am also looking forward to his new movie (out today?) entitled Blades of Glory where he is a figure skater alongside Napolean Dynamite. That’s a killer combo right there.
Two thumbs up for the film if you enjoy the absurd comedies that are all over the place now.
iplaying: Ishmael & Maggie – The Trews – Den of Thieves
I think the most interesting part of this story is what his son was disappointed in!
Click here.
I caught the tail end (Har Har! Aww man, that is a good joke after reading this article!) of this newsbite on Chez106 the other morning and thought they were talking about a pub in Ottawa, but lo and behold, the news is from Scotland!
Anyhow, read and enjoy the article about a man who is banned from his favourite pub for breaking wind.
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54888
This man is definitely my hero.
What awaited me at home when I arrived a few nights ago? My free Tim Horton’s Cup!
There was a plain white envelope with no return label! The nerve! Imagine if it got lost in the mail, there would be a potential winning cup floating out there forever!
With baited breath (and Mike’s camera capturing the event) I slowly opened the envelope to find a small folded Tim Horton’s cup awaiting me. Mike and I both agreed that I would probably (at the very least) win a free coffee.
As I prepared my fingers for the eventual task of rolling the rim, I thought of grand prizes coming my way and how the system would have been obliterated if that was the case. IMAGINE the outrage from the populace if someone getting a cup through the mail one a grand prize!
Unfortunately the cup was not a big winner…not even a small one. I did not win a thing. This surprised the both of us but then put back the thoughts that perhaps:
– this is truly a random system
– they don’t grant winning cups to people who mail in for a free cup.
Perhaps everyone should mail in asking for a free cup to determine whether or not it is possible to win SOMETHING from a free cup! Join in my cause!
iplaying: Snow (Hey Oh) – Red Hot Chili Peppers – Stadium Arcadium
Friday night brought Vero and I to two plays in which her friends were appearing in.
The first was at the University of Ottawa campus and was entitled L’affaire de la rue de Lourcine. I was delighted to see Martin and Mario stumble into the waiting area dressed up in vintage outfits while drinking a ‘supposed’ bottle of wine. I even had the honour of having Mario lean up against me in his drunken stupor.
The was a preamble to the actual play as the two men end up waking up inside the house after a night on the town and they can’t remember what actually happened that night. Hilarity to the nth degree ensues as it is discovered that someone was killed the night before and they are trying to piece together the events of the night before in a comical fashion.
I also like how I didn’t know Martin and Mario were actually in the play when they came in through the door drunk and I thought they were just goofing around. Vero had a good laugh at that as she knew it was part of the show.
This was probably the best play I have seen so far as it had me in stitches. They spoke in an over-the-top fashion and their mannerisms were very exaggerated. Much like how I sound when I speak French. 😉
Two thumbs up for this play. Special mention goes to Veronique (the other one) for her hard work on the play! It was fantastic!
We then headed over to the Bronson Center to catch another play where our good friend Chantelle (or is that Chantal) was appearing. I had not even known that she acted so was excited to see her.
This was my first time at the Bronson Center and I wondered what type of venue it would be considering I’ve heard a few bands had played there before. Turned out to be an auditorium style venue so I thought it would be strange to have bands play there. It’s like I was back in high school.
The play was called All That I Am and was a focus on five different women throughout the ages, with a focus on religious figures (such as the wife of Simon Peter, which Chantal played). Being that it was a religious sort of event, I am making the assumption that the audience was mainly from the church that the actresses were from. Let me also point out that the crowd under 65 were severely outnumbered by the old-timers.
Chantal came out and did a wonderful monologue and it was quite funny. Then it skipped over to the next woman who was performing her monologue (the play was entirely monologues) and it kind of dragged on and before you knew it, Palmer had decided to take a little nap.
When she left the stage I figured I would see what the next woman had to say but this was an even worse experience as she had no microphone so we could barely hear her. Instead of straining my ears the whole time I decided this would be an opportune time to catch a few more Zs. I don’t think Vero minded too much considering it wasn’t our friend’s part which I was napping through!
The last two women provided an entertaining monologue which kept my interest and then Chantal came back out to wrap things up. All in all, Chantal’s part was worth the admission, plus the final two ladies. What do I know though? Everyone seemed to enjoy the entire thing, so I am blaming it on my nap.
iplaying: Bleeding Words – Mobile (Tomorrow Starts Today)
On Saturday, a new clothing item entered my life in the form of a fedora. I thought this snazzy hat should come with a name. Meet Dora the Fedora.
On Saturday, considering Vero and I had some time to kill before heading over to Aunt Dinah’s surprise birthday party, we kept driving towards the Yorkdale Mall.
Now, I’m not from around the big city of Toronto so I wasn’t really expecting a zoo which was the parking lot around 2PM on a Saturday. However, after a relaxing drive from Ottawa, I wasn’t too stressed in finding a parking spot and managed to acquire one in 20 minutes.
My goals of the trip to the mall were simple:
I wanted a laptop bag that would be small enough to fit inside my backpack. Why do I want a laptop bag if I have a laptop? Well, for one…I don’t want thing getting scratched up inside my backpack. Who knows what lurks inside there! I think I have something growing inside one of the pockets actually. Plus, simply purchasing a laptop bag would not be sufficient for my needs as I am a scholar with many books, as well as my lunch and swimming gear.
The Apple Store was quite a zoo also. Literally hundreds of people sat there playing with the laptops and accessories. It was a pretty neat setup I must admit. You should check it out. Everything is out in the open to try out – even headphones.
I scoped a laptop bag which seemed to fit my needs but I then thought I should buy a new backpack (as mine has seen better days and I’ve had it since college. I think 10 years is enough time to retire Ole Faithful.) We headed over to Bentley Bags where I picked out a snazzy pack and got to the cash to discover it was 50% off! BONUS! You know me, I am…frugal? Is that the word? Either way, paying $12 for a backpack is my kind of deal. They made my day.
I headed back to the Apple Store, picked up the laptop bag and we were on our way out when Vero wanted to stop into the Aldo Accessory store.
Lo and behold, the hat had a heavenly glow emitting from it and something in my mind said “It will be mine. Oh yes…it will be mine.” I tried the hat on, all the ladies in the room turned their heads, and then I decided to buy it.
I dig the hat. I’ve been looking for a fedora for awhile and couldn’t find one I really liked. I’ll have to get used to wearing it for awhile. The logistics of wearing a hat in the year 2007 is a difficult one when you are also semi-concerned about how your hair shouldn’t look like bedhead when you arrive to work.
Now I am wondering the proper etiquette for wearing a fedora. The fedora exudes more of a spirit than a regular ball cap would. Here are some questions for the masses (perhaps those that were around when fedoras were in style could help me out here):
Nowadays, hats seem to be a fairly significant accessory in the clothing you wear. One cannot wear the fedora within the sphere of a workplace (well, at least MY workplace), but what about social events? Is it proper to keep your fedora on when you are having tea over at your Grandmother’s house? What about a party? I could see that going over well…but overall, is the general rule of thumb that you shouldn’t be wearing a hat indoors, plain and simple? What are the old vs. the new rules when it comes to the fedora (or hats in general for that matter?)
I’m not only wearing it for the coolness of old factor, but I want to bring back the qualities of old also. This is part of my constant effort to be a gentleman.
Vero has scored an amazing job opportunity with Production Charbonneau this coming year when Vero is wrapping up her school.
Production Charbonneau is filming a new television series which will probably be released sometime in mid 2008. But they are going ahead and filming a season’s worth of material this year.
She will be the assistant stage producer (did I get the name right?) and she will be responsible for not only the in-behind things that occur during production, but more importantly, responsible for the stage direction of the extras on the set! Now, I don’t know about you, but sometimes I’ve wondered how the extras on the set are instructed to move, to listen to their iPod, to walk a certain way, to eat some food, etc. Well, this is how! Vero will be letting them know what they expect in a certain scene and ensure that they aren’t goofing around when the camera starts rolling and they are secretly waving to the camera to their mom (as you all know I would do!)
The production company even rented a house which they will use while ripping out key walls to put video cameras into. That is pretty cool. I must admit that the only knowledge I have of the inner workings of television shows and movies are what I see on the special features disc of a DVD. So I have an idea of what she will be up to, but my knowledge is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what she will be responsible for.
So the filming runs from April – June, then the show filming will take a break until October-December. Personally, I think that is an awesome job considering I would love to be getting out of school, work for three months and then get three months off to decompress from the whirlwind which was school! I remember that this happened to me (not by choice) when I graduated and didn’t find a job until October. I don’t know what my parents were thinking at the time (what the heck, ya bum, go get a job!) but everything worked out fine and in hindsight, I had one of the greatest summers I have ever known.
All in all, I know Vero is destined for great things. I’m pretty sure not many of her school colleagues have received this opportunity to work on such a large scale production (there are 40 people on the team!) and she has earned it with her hard work ethic over the years. Am I allowed to say break a leg to someone who is behind the scenes or is this bad luck?
We all know it’s been my secret desire to one day be on television. Faithful readers, this is my way in! (Meanwhile, Vero is shaking her head saying “Noooo!”)
I’m pretty sure I aced my mid-term last night in my Media Ethics class. Man, I love that class. Reading Supreme Court cases and having someone explain them to me is actually very entertaining.
At this point in my life, I am coming to the close of my required courses for the Communications field and have a bunch of electives to choose. While I would like to think that I will be a cool guy behind the camera in some studio one day, I think that perhaps it is best to broaden my knowledge set to what I am currently in – the Government.
So with that, I am looking at branching out my knowledge set by taking some sociology courses as the Government policy makers require that in your brain to ‘successfully’ work in that field. While I do not know if I will want to be a policy maker in the future, I don’t want to have a closed door. Heck, that’s why I went back to school in the first place; to leave the doors wide open! Everyone knows I am the cats meow, but I didn’t want some piece of paper declaring I am unfit to proceed higher in this organization. Albeit, I have a giant ego so that’s always a clincher.
Now onto some fun news…while my potential trip to Europe is being put on the back burner for this year (but Vero is still going ahead…JEALOUS!), we will both be headed to the Dominican Republic next January for her sister’s wedding! I am excited for this trip as I have never been anywhere down south and I always said I would wait for an opportunity like this to come along to make my trek. I am unsure if I will truly enjoy a paradise of sand and water compared to the wonders of traveling to Europe, but who knows? This is why I am going! I want to see if I enjoy this kind of thing!
My only beef is the fact that they need deposit next week for a trip that is happening next year. Boo!
In a grand stroke of awesome news, Evil Dead – The Musical is coming to Toronto!
http://www.evildeadthemusical.com/index.htm
Honestly…first the Smashing Pumpkins are coming to Toronto and now this? WOOT!