Author: admin

If I were in charge of making money off of a hit show, what would I do?

Well, first I would put it through the regular channels, aka sell it to a network, make the mucho buckos.

After that, heck, there are DVD sales.

The question is, how can I squeeze a little more money out of this TV show I have?

Season 6 of the show 24 started this week, and even though I have never seen this show (one day I will, one day), I am impressed with the marketing gurus who came up with this idea: Premiere the show on television, but before that, sell the first four episodes of the season on a $10 DVD.

Bingo. Those craving more just have to rush over to Future Shop and lay down the equivalent of eating out in a cheap restaurant and pick up the first four episodes of their favourite TV show before the slowpokes have to wait an entire month while watching it on television. Suckas.

Brilliance. I would like to think that there are people who would be fiscally-responsible and realize they are already paying for their TV cable connection, just wait and good things will come to you, but I have a feeling sales on this may be decent and will start a new trend in the serialized tv show/dvd craze which has taken our generation by storm.

Anyhow, I hope that I have provided some knowledge to those who didn’t know the first four episodes of 24 are available for sale and they are rushing out right now!

iplaying: Lovedrug – Mobile (Tomorrow Starts Today)

Saturday brought Vero’s Christmas gift to life – a hockey game! Saturday was Hockey Day in Canada, so what better way to celebrate than to head on out to the ScotiaBank Place?

Well, that must have been the thought of every other soul in the area as traffic sucked heading in there. We got there in time to see the puck drop, so that’s what counts.

In the ‘no-knowledge’ zone of Palmer, I had picked up some tickets that were in Row S. “Great!” I thought. “At least it’s closer than those poor souls who have to stand up in the top of the bowl (aka, the 900 Level). Little did I know that the rows don’t go from A-Z in my section, they went from A-S! So we were sitting in front of the guys standing up. Not a big deal. Armed with a beer and some peanuts, life was good. Vero pointed out the fact that salted peanuts in the shell aren’t actually salted inside, it’s the shell that’s salted! You know…it makes total sense, but I had never thought about it before.

We had picked up some Habs jerseys from Benoit (thanks buddy!) and were prepared for the onslaught of torture we would receive inside the Sens Home. However, I must say that a good portion of the crowd are Canadiens fans and we didn’t have a problem. In fact, our entire row were Habs fans so whenever someone started a cheer of ‘Go Sens Go’, we dwarfed them with our vocal might yelling “GO HABS GO!”

Unfortunately for us, the Sens TROUNCED the HABS in an 8-3 score. I don’t really follow hockey anyhow so I just like going to the game and hanging out with my girl, my beer, and my peanuts. Annie, Eric and Mike were appalled that we were there cheering on the Canadiens. I summed their feelings up by asking the following: “Well guys, if we all picked up and moved to Toronto who would you cheer for? Not the Leafs? That’s what I thought.”

We laughed at the little guys (aka the Timbits) on the ice during the intermission and had high hopes to win the 50/50 draw (so I can buy a MacBook!) but it was not in our cards that night. Plus, the Zambonis are always a treat.

A good game nonetheless, and I felt a moment of national pride taking part in something that all of Canada was taking part of on Saturday – Hockey Day in Canada.

iplaying: Looking Out – Mobile (Tomorrow Starts Today)

I meandered over to The Thirsty Toad pub last night with Mike, Carrie, Michelle, Holly, Brian and Alex for a celebration of Michelle’s birthday. The Thirsty Toad used to be Stout Bros. which is a decent pub. I enjoyed their pub fare (aka, the potato skins) but was disappoitned that Holly never brought me back some chili from her house as she was picking up a birthday cake. Hey, I figured if we can bring some cake into the pub, why not some leftover chili?

Good times were had and I have been convinced I should attempt to grow the beard this year as Brian and Mike were both sporting some good face-guards. However, this may take me approximately 70 years to grow so I don’t know if I should start out with such a commitment to facial hair.

iplaying: Spoonful of Sugar – Matt Mays (…When The Angels Make Contact)

In late December, I handed in my final paper to my Qualitative Research Methods class – a 20 page biography on Philipp and his views on the comparison of German vs. Canadian customs.

This became my first A+ paper in my life but I owe it to a few people, namely, Philipp himself. When writing a biography, I didn’t realize how much of it writes itself considering I am just restating what his own views are. In some instances, blatantly copying down his every word. So to Philipp, I thank thee as you pretty well wrote most of this report. I don’t know if this is just a byproduct of writing a biography. I don’t think there would be an instance where a biography wouldn’t be a rehash of what the subject has stated, unless it was a biography of a dead person.

Some items of note:

• Some of the report is…well…false. Like the points of talking over the phone with Philipp. Didn’t really happen. 😉
• I added the photos after the fact for the presentation to the faithful readers of this website. I thought it would add to the experience.
• Unfortunately, I had envisioned this masterpiece of a biography that is on the best-seller list in book stores. However, I was hindered by the fact that I had to present it like an actual research paper and the juicy parts sometimes get bogged down with the finer details about how the research processes were conducted. I personally find it boring, but perhaps some people will enjoy it.
• I may or may not have lost the title of what Philipp studied in school by the time he left for Germany for holidays so I put bio-chemistry. This may be wrong.

You may find the biography here.

iplaying: Dry County – Bon Jovi (Keep the Faith) – of special note – this is the song which I used for greatest guitar solo in the iPod challenge. However, Mike had already won with Crazy Train. But I thought this was wild also.

I don’t know if you have heard this yet, but Saddam Hussein was executed over the Christmas holidays.

I knew about his trial and how he was going to be executed, but the day he actually was executed hit me hard for some reason. For awhile I analyzed why it would hit me hard. I don’t really follow world events, Saddam is more of a general knowledge thing to me, and I certainly haven’t been following this story. But there you have it, Saddam Hussein is gone. Forever.

I realized later on (as I shared this at supper with Eric, Annie and Mike) that what really hit me was not the fact that he was executed, but this was an end of an era. Saddam Hussein has been part of my general knowledge since watching the Gulf War on television in Grade 8? (Grade 7? What Grade was it? It was around there. 1990). That’s 16 years of my life where he has been in the background of thoughts whenever the word terror or middle east conflict comes up. He’s the person that made me start to realize that a lot more happens outside our nation. He made me realize that there are world issues. His presence, his stature, his outfits…they stick to the brain. He was OUR generation’s super-villain. We’ve never had one before. The Russians were long gone by the time we came around to general knowledge.

So, it’s an end of an era. We will never hear about what Saddam Hussein has been up to. He has been stripped away from our lives. I can’t say I disagree with his execution. I wholeheartedly agree. But it’s just strange to think that we won’t hear about his actions ever again (except for in history books).

Now, here’s a little rant about what is available for the public viewing. I have heard that there is a video taken from a cellular phone showing Saddam before being executed. I don’t really know the details of what is in the video other than him yelling at the crowd. I don’t really care to see what is in the video. I don’t live in the middle ages where everyone goes to the town square to see a good hanging. It turns my stomach to think about it.

Anyhow, so here I am avoiding all possible avenues of seeing any form of this video, but sure enough, like reading about the latest Survivor episode the day after you missed it, you can’t really avoid it. Sure enough, there is an article on Canada.com talking about how you can be a reporter also with the use of your wits, and heck, a cellphone or anything that can capture a newsworthy item.

Sure enough, there’s a nice picture of Saddam Hussein right before his hanging. Great. Strike one for Palmer. Ugh. I have this sick feeling in my stomach now. I think…hmm…how do I put this…there should be some strict rules in place about what should be shown on news outlets. I don’t know…is this prudish of me? People used to see hangings live and in person…should I have the stomach to accept this and cheer for it? I don’t know…I did my best to avoid any possible avenues of seeing photos/video of the event by avoiding all articles involving his execution. But it slips by in the form of a ‘You can be a Reporter TOO! YAY!’ article. I didn’t even read the article yet, I just caught the headline picture on the main page.

Anyhow, that’s Palmer’s thoughts for the day (or the past few weeks which have just now materialized into printed form.)

iplaying: Crazy on You – Heart (Dreamboat Annie)