Palmer's World

If you were around me last weekend, you'll know that my cell phone was on the fritz. Looks like the battery kept losing it's connection. I brought this up to Mike and he said that if I fold a piece of paper and put it inside, it should push the battery against the connectors to maintain a connection.

Voila. Problem solved.

I find it ironic that the newest form of communication was saved by the oldest form of communication (other than vocal of course. Oh yeah, and those cave drawings.) Granted, I'm not using the paper to write down any information, but at least it came in handy for other things!

Another special guest ranter...apparently I have quite a few friends who like to rant.

Read this article first on the new policy in place at PWGSC for hiring white, able-bodied males:

Here

Then continue on with Mike's rant here:

You know,

That is total bullshit, by attempting to stop discrimination they are only discriminating even more than before. Getting a job based solely on your ethnic background or your sex does nothing but hurt the employer. Jobs should be awarded solely on the basis of your experience and your qualifications. If I have a problem I want the best person for the job no matter of who they are or where they come from.

And there is my rant.

Such is a fact of life, I guess that I will have to get used to the idea of being discriminated against for no apparent reason. Why discrimination ever came to be I have no idea, we are all human beings who originated from the same lineage.

Mike

At long last...the moment you have all been waiting for...I present you:

The Morning Show

A webcam based show from my office along with my colleague in crime Phil, in the year 2001.

The collection follows Bob and Jethro through the trials and tribulations of hosting a morning show, and how you can only go so far with moose jokes.

Episode #1 - Download Here
Original Airdate: November 9, 2001
(tech notes: 8.09 MB, AVI File)

If you take a look in the comments section of Trish's Rant, you'll notice the topic of artists pushing their political views on people.

Granted, Bono pushes a lot, hence, you see a lot of him in the media.

But let me ask if there are any artists out there that haven't pushed their views on their audience at sometime or another? I suppose there are quite a few.

Wasn't the good old days of Rock n Roll about rebelling? Alright, maybe not every band rebelled against something, but I'm sure a lot of them did!

What about John Lennon? Speaking of which...25 years...coming up soon.

I enjoy a good political rant at a concert. I enjoy hearing about their views against the current political climate in the States, or the myriad horrible issues affecting Africa right now. I like how it informs people. I was very oblivious to current events until musicians took it upon themselves to inform me.

But back to my main point...I like it when rock n roll is rebellious. They want us to rock out. They want us to rock the vote. They want us to change something. I like when they speak between songs...you get to hear what they are thinking. It's cool. It's more than just the music. That's what I like about a concert. You get more. You hear new variations on songs. You get to feel the energy in the crowd. You get to hear the band's thoughts on stuff and see how it translates into their music writing.


You can keep the discussion alive in Trish's Rant section...I don't want to squash it.

Since Ryan has been gracious enough to let me be a guest ranter on his blog, here are a few things that I need to vent about today. For the past few days I have had that fabulous Band-Aid song "Do They Know Its Christmas" stuck in my head. This stems from the compilation of my Fromage de Noel album, which will be on sale shortly.

In this song, we distinctly hear our very own Bono, champion of poverty prevention, sing "Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you" in reference to the poor starving children of Africa. Thank God the children are starving in Africa? Doesn't sound very charitable to me. For a guy who is so quick to tell us all his political views and insists during his concerts that we call our political leaders and share our views on poverty, he might have put a little more thought into that line. (editor's note: I think Trish is on crack.)

Another line that gets me: "And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime." Is this as opposed to every other year when they do get snow? Do you really think snow is their biggest concern? I mean really, it is fabulous that all sorts of famous singers got together to save the children of Africa through song, but I think they could have put a little more effort into the lyrics. (editor's note: Who says there isn't snow in Africa? I think Trish should do some research on this one.)

The Simpsons also agree with me. Please refer to the episode "Radio Bart" where Bart uses a microphone and pretends to be an orphan boy named Timmy O'Toole, who has fallen down a well. Celebrities from Springfield and Sting put together their own Band-Aid.
Sideshow Mel: Though we can't get him out, we'll do the next best thing...
McBane: We go on TV and sing, sing, sing! (well, if it was in the Simpsons, I can't deny Trish's comments above.)

In other ranting news…ever since I have had a car again, I have been noticing that there are a lot of stupid people out there. For instance:

1. The guy who ran the red light where Wellington and Bronson cross and nearly smashed into me. Dangerous corner anyway because of that large cement wall that blocks your view of traffic.
   
2. The moron who parked his car about 1 foot from the lights at the corner of Parkdale and Somerset (or whatever Somerset turns into) so that when you make a right turn you nearly smash into his car.
3. People who do not change their driving techniques when the roads are covered in a sheet of ice. And last but not least
   
4. People who spend their money on recording equipment instead of on winter tires and endangers themselves and the rest of us innocent people! (sorry, couldn't resist adding that one...) (editor's note: HEY! I brought the car out and the tires are fine. I even took it for a few skid runs and she's a beaut.)
   

Ok. Done for now, but don't worry. I am just getting warmed up. I'll be back (it's up to you to imagine the Terminator voice here).

I'm going to send some props out to Mike for introducing me to my new fave show: Prison Break.

Before I forget, Benoit resurrected his blog. Check it out here.

Back to my props. Mike told me about Prison Break around Thanksgiving...since I was a little low on good shows to watch, I decided to download it.

Holy crap this series is great. I love television these days...all serialized format where it's like you're watching a mega-movie. (sidenote here about how Quentin Tarantino directed the season finale of CSI last year just to see how TV production is. Now he loves it and thinks he can do a lot more with story in a series than in a 2 hour flick. Awesome.)

Anyhow, the show revolves around one guy in jail on death row and his brother getting himself thrown into jail so he can break him out. Oh yes, and supposedly the brother on death row didn't do it, so there's that side story of lawyers/friends trying to prove he is innocent.

Why do I love this show? Excellent storytelling for one. I am engaged the whole way through. I thoroughly enjoy the cast and the character development. Working inside a prison, you can create a character you need out of thin air since there are thousands of people there. It's not like they are on some mystical island in the land of nowhere...actually this brings me to Lost (my other fave show right now) and how they smartly said that there are more people who crashed on the island than they actually show. So if they ever need a new character (read: someone to blow up, like the ensigns on Star Trek) they just pull them from this random pot of survivors.

Anyhow, I haven't finished watching the season yet...about half way through (I download them off the Internet since I don't have TV cable) but I may try and have a marathon run this coming weekend to finish the season off.

-----
Should I start talking about how Alias is biting the royal big one lately and how I'm not depressed that the show is getting cancelled? For the past two seasons, I have found the show to start out slow and uninteresting...but then they ramp it up near the end to make it all worthwhile. I'm hoping they will do that for the series ending.

Should I start talking about how I love the fact that I can download TV shows and watch them whenever I want instead of being pulled from my every day doings to go sit and watch a TV show? I just wrote an essay on this subject which I should put up here which analyzes how broacasting companies like the CBC should offer up their shows on the Net as free downloads and keep an archive forever. I like the 'on-demand' society better than the 'must be in front of the TV at 8:00. No worries I can set my VCR...NOOOO! I forgot to set my VCR!!!'

Granted, it takes awhile to download a show...overnight usually. But hey...if I'm not in a rush to see them anyhow, I'm saving some sweet cash from not paying for TV cable. Granted, this may change when Mike moves in with me in January. Heck, I don't mind paying for TV cable. Scratch that...I do mind. We'll see what we can do to get around that. In no way am I talking about illegal means that I was using at my previous home. ;-)

Turns out that the Internet would rather that Eric stays away.

All Your Base Are Belong To Us

We believe that we can see Benoit, Claude and I at this concert in this photo. We could not locate Joelle though who is standing right next to me.

What can I say? Their first set of 90 minutes flew by. It felt like 15 minutes. That is what the U2 experience is all about...it allows your entire being just get into the music.

Setlist:
City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
Elevation
I Will Follow
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / In A Little While (snippet)
Beautiful Day
Original Of The Species
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Love And Peace Or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday / Rock The Casbah (snippet)
Bullet The Blue Sky / The Hands That Built America (snippet) / When Johnny Comes Marching Home (snippet)
Miss Sarajevo
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Where The Streets Have No Name
One

Encore(s):
Until The End Of The World
Mysterious Ways
With Or Without You
Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of
Yahweh
40

Highlights of U2:

• Foil wrappers being released as soon as City of Blinding Lights begins
• Realizing that my fears of Bono having a weak voice (after watching the Vertigo DVD) being squashed as soon as I hear Sometimes You Can't Make it On Your Own. Magical.
• Literally being 12 feet away from Bono during Love and Peace while he bangs the drum. While I'm at it, it's great to be 12 feet away from any of the band when they come to our end of the catwalk. Read that again. 12 feet away. We were SO CLOSE.
• Seeing a little boy scream "No More!" during Sunday Bloody Sunday and realizing it's the boy I met in the washroom. His dad was saying how they've been following U2 for the past few weeks.
• Bullet the Blue Sky - what can I say. Beautiful.
• Pride (in the name of love) - looking a few feet behind me to see Claude have the greatest grin on his face seeing his favourite U2 tune being played
• Joelle and her concert shoes
• Hearing With or Without You - didn't expect that
• Spending an hour in traffic, getting to the Corel Centre, missing the pre-party with free drinks, going to the scalper, talking him down from $400 a ticket for Floor to $125 (with our tix to trade in), going in, finding the wrong entrance, continuing on, the anticipation of (almost) getting picked to go inside the ellipse, suprisingly meeting up with Claude and Benoit on the floor, the lights, the sound, the magic...

Everything was beautiful.

Quick review of the Arcade Fire: I love these guys. Mega-band on tour. They switch instrumental positions. That's so wild. Drummers playing guitar. Fiddlers going on the drums. Back and forth and round again with people banging the ski helmets with their drum sticks. Excellent opener.

Links of interest:
http://www.u2-vertigo-tour.com/
Benoit's Review

Your very own Ryan is making bread this coming Thursday. 50 loaves of bread for fundraising activities for work (needy families, etc.).

We have 10 loaves left for order if you would like to have one. They are $5 each.

Let me know!

iplaying: Somewhat of a Complication - Steve Cuch

Benoit managed to snag me a digital copy of Christmas in the Stars.

Excellent.

I cannot say I've listened to it yet, but there's a song that's called What Do you Get a Wookie when he already has a comb?

Classic. I'll let you know how it is.

A great review of the album here.

In other news, Trish came through for Ben and Claude and they snagged two tix to the U2 show. At first, they were behind the stage, and now they have floor area tix. Man, those guys are lucky. I'm super happy that we are all going. We've been waiting for months!

Tonight's mission - Go to some scalper's and upgrade our tix to Floor. I'm willing to spend $100 to do so. Should be enough.

Everywhere I turn in this city, it's all about U2.

I must admit that I am pumped. I felt that my experience at the Elevation tour in 2001 was a religious experience. Bono transcends the rock star persona to something more.

In other news, I'm trying to figure out how long are all-seasons good in the snow for? aka, how many kms? Dad suggested I look into getting winter tires...there goes my recording equipment fund down the drain. But seriously, I know the benefits of winter tires, yada yada yada, but with all-seasons with 36,000 kms on them, do I direly need them? Fill out the comment section with answer! I'm searching for the answer!

The lack of winter tires will allow me to purchase this:
http://fostex.com/index.php?file=products/digital/mr8hd

I've been looking at getting recording equipment ever since our trip to Boston last year where I found out that I wouldn't have a warranty covered in Canada. I've waited a year and now that Mike is moving in, I'm thinking of picking up something. This little ditty has a built in hard drive AND four inputs. What does this mean?

Let's say Mike and I are on the road somewhere touring. We can plug in two guitars and two mics into the system and record ourselves. Instant soundboard recording.

Let's say Mike and I just want to jam at home and we get something good but don't want to forget about it in a week's time. Boom. Tape it.

What if I want to write Tributes to Michael Bolton for a night? Well, I would just laugh that one off and go record some good rockin' tunes.

Something tells me this may be a long post and I have time to kill. Bear with me.

I've realized that with Vero, I'm not sure what music she has listened to. I have an idea of what she enjoys, but I have no idea if she knows the same music which has created a solid foundation of love.

I've given her a few albums when we first started dating...just trivial things such as Econoline Crush - Devil You Know, and Pearl Jam - Ten (pretty well they're best commercial album.)

After hearing that she didn't really know U2 at all, and didn't even know THE U2 song; Where the Streets Have No Name, I decided I would take the next step in our relationship. We're going to see what she thinks of my top albums.

How did I judge my top albums? Simply enough, I looked through my album collection and pulled out anything that either:

• touched a chord in my soul
• reminded me that there was not one bad song on the album

I have this theory that even though you may think the majority of the songs on an album are amazing, it can all go to hell with ONE song. That ONE song screws everything up for being the best album. Example: Master of Puppets - Metallica. It can be the killer album except for freakin' Leper Messiah. Guh. I hate that song. The rest of the album is bliss.

I will be honest that I tried to create a Top 10 list, but there are way too many albums here.
(in no particular order)

• U2 - The Joshua Tree - My introduction to U2. The classic album. Ranked #26 on Rolling Stone's Top 500 Albums list here. I cannot begin to describe my love for U2 from this album. Can I just say that Where the Streets Have No Name has more energy than the entire discography of the Rolling Stones (oooh...I can see the comments section flamed soon).
• Nirvana - Nevermind - No real explanation here. Actually, this album is ranked #17 on the Top 500. I'll keep checking the site to see if my choices make it or not. What can I say about Nevermind that has never been said before? How about the fact that there is a naked baby on the cover? Nah...that's been said.
• Lifehouse - No Name Face - A SOLID SOLID album. I'm not sure who introduced this to who, but Eric, Annie and I (and maybe Mike?) put this in our top 5 for sure. Every song evokes emotion. Everything is the greatest song put on this Earth. In fact, this is the song that Mike and I played at Eric and Annie's wedding. And it kicked ass. Why? Not because we rocked the casbah...but because the song evokes emotion. Too bad Lifehouse sucks more and more with each new release. Stanley Climbfall...not bad. Self-titled album...gak!
• Sam Robert - We Were Born in a Flame - I have entered my rock n' roll phase in the past few years. Sammy and the boys bring this feeling out in me. I would have to say this was my favourite album of 2003. I will follow this band to the grave.
• Mogwai - Happy Songs For Happy People - Lucy introduced me to Mogwai after I mentioned how I loved the guitar driven soundtrack of 28 Days Later. This album brings you to another place...all (or mostly) guitar-synth sounds all about. It creates an atmosphere.
• Matchbox 20 - Yourself or Someone Like You - Someone out there has borrowed this album and never returned it so I found it at a garage sale for $5. It's worth another purchase. Good campfire songs here.
• Stabbing Westward - Darkest Days - I sense a theme here. I like albums that evoke emotions. What I love even more are albums that evoke ONE emotion. Ah, the classic theme album. This album is the greatest for after the breakups when you are full of rage. Industrial at its best.
• The Tea Party - The Edges of Twilight/Transmission - Where Edges take Eastern and Western...Transmission takes rock and electronics. These are such different albums, but so, so good. Edges got me into playing guitar. However, I don't think I'll ever pull off what Jeff Martin can pull off.
• Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here - Ah...the tribute album to Sid Barrett. From the bookend Crazy Diamond's to the middle title track...there is nothing missing from this album. I love Floyd albums for the sole reason that they blend into one cohesive piece of music.
• Live - Throwing Copper - Memories of driving around in the car with Carol and Angele and belting out these tunes until we believed we were on stage. Probably their best album ever.
• I Mother Earth - Scenery and Fish - Same time period, but guitar goodness. Choice track - Earth, Sky and C (C is for Carlos ladies and gents)

At this point, heck, I'm tired of writing my thoughts on the albums, so I'll come back to them tomorrow, but I'll leave the list here:

• Theory of a Deadman - Gasoline
• The Arcade Fire - Funeral
• Silverchair - Neon Ballroom
• Pearl Jam - No Code
• The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - here's my comment. My all-time favourite album. Will be forever. Long live the Smashing Pumpkins.
• Collective Soul
• Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile
• Counting Crows - Recovering the Satellites

There you have it...my top albums.

If you've wondered how to get an idea of what I think and feel, listen to these albums. The answers are written right there.

What do I cherish more than life itself?

A hot apple cider...man, I'm addicted. I have been known to have one (or sometimes two) a day. I pride myself on the fact that I don't have any common vices such as coffee or chocolate, but heck, when the cold weather hits, why not warm your insides with some hot goodness?

What are your cold weather delights? I know Duncan likes to pick up quarts of eggnog every time he gets the chance, as they are only offered during the holiday season.

Other cold weather delights:

• sitting next to the Christmas tree reading a book. Ahhh, the smell. Boo to the fake Christmas trees. They smell like metal.
• having a nice glass of rye after a big meal

I think I shall also have hot apple cider on hand at the Christmas bash this year. Not sure how to go about this...I'm assuming a huge pot with some apple cider should do the trick.

Can I just say that my week is getting better and better?

Turns out that The Arcade Fire is opening for U2 in Ottawa...originally they were not.

EXCELLENT! I am pumped.

In other news David Bowie and the Arcade Fire have teamed up for an EP release.

Dang...only available on iTunes. I may have to finally buy something off of that horrid site.

http://www.jasonmulgrew.com/content/blog_archive.php?bid=506
(warning, not for the faint of heart)

Excellent find by Krista!

Gearing up the concert on Friday, I decided to pop my new purchase into my DVD player. Can't hurt to listen to a little U2 in some sweet surround sound.

I bought this last week and previewed a few tracks at Vero's (where I discovered that U2 may or may not be a liked band by her. I have to introduce her to the Joshua Tree.) and I must admit I was disappointed. The band seemed to just stand there, no energy whatsoever...almost like they were starting to become...old.

I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and watch it from the beginning. So far, I watched 1/2 the concert and all my fears have been dismissed. The experience which is U2 is still evident in the Vertigo tour (at least, from the DVD) and I was in awe watching it. If you like tour dvd's, I would say pick this one up. So far, it's great. I must admit I think the Elevation Tour DVD may be a little better, but I haven't watched the whole thing yet.

I'm pretty pissed at myself because I forgot to get Coldplay tix on Saturday. I found out the hard way.

Checking phone msgs...
Benoit: "Hey Ryan! I read on your blog that you're going to get tix to Coldplay! Give me a call. I want in."
Ryan (looking at his watch and realizing it's 8 hours after they went on sale): "SONOFA!"

So, needless to say, even with them opening up ANOTHER date in Toronto due to the impressive ticket sales, I got nothing. This is the second time on the Twisted Logic tour that I missed out.

Woe is really me. Sure, I see a lot of other bands, but I was REALLY wanting to see Coldplay.

Went to Cora's with Maren, Christina and Jeff who just got back from Europe. Envy! Cora's is good, but for a guy who doesn't really care for breakfast, it irks me to pay a lot for something I really don't care about. Give the man a sandwich any day!

Spent the afternoon hanging up my Christmas lights outside as well as going shopping with Shannon. He did well, but I only managed to pick up something for my sister. All in good time. I'm all about Amazon.ca this year. I think I've put in four orders to them so far. As long as you are over $39, it's all good (aka free shipping). I think I've got Mom hooked on it. I'm glad, because living in the North offers little selection.

Can I just note that my new vice in life is Hot Apple Cider? YUM!

I must say that my Christmas lights look pretty sharp. I didn't know how they would turn out, but I can't complain. Although I swear some of them are blue. An odd colour. I am trying to figure out when to unplug them...should I leave them on all night long or should I unplug them before going to bed? Economically, before bed sounds about right. PLUS, everyone is asleep during the night, so who cares if they are on?

Heads up: If anyone knows how to print off panoramic shots...you know, the ones you stitch together...I want to print one off but am unsure of how that works in the land of printing out digital photos.

Did I mention I'm going to see U2 with Joelle this Friday. Awwww yeah.

There are times in life where you realize you should bring a camera with you at all times. Saturday was one of those times.

Saturday morning - Went out with Shannon to his property where he placed a few trailers together along with a sun deck. Pretty sweet location if you ask me. Out in the middle of Quebec wilderness along with his own private lake. Divine.

The reason for going up was to go to the other side of the lake and pick up the canoe which was stuck over there. Sadly enough, when we got there, we discovered the canoe had blown into the bay/swampy area.

We're men, so as all men think, we won't just leave until Spring. We examine the lake and realize there is at an inch of ice formed, so we decide to brave it across. Worst case scenario - fall into about three feet of freezing water.

Being the gallant fellow that Shannon is, he volunteers to go across the ice while I get to hold the rope on the shore. We decide to go to the other side of the lake where there is more swamp (aka, more tufts of grass poking out of the ice which will be nice to step on). We tie the rope to the ladder he will use to distribute the weight across the ice.

Off he goes. I pack my items into my jacket in case I have to make a split second dive into the water to save him. At least I can throw my jacket to the shore with my wallet.

Not suprisingly, Shannon has no problems whatsoever getting to the canoe. At one point he was on his own since the rope was too short to go to the middle of the lake.

I trekked to the other side, grabbed the ladder which he flung across the ice and watched as he canoed across the ice back home.

Men at work.

Went to Peggy's for a good club sandwich, and caught the ferry across to Ottawa. Excellent! I've never been on the ferry here so I was excited. I must appear funny to Shannon as he has probably done this trek a billion times, but to me, being on the water is enthralling.

Saw a dozen wild turkey run across the road as we drove to Constance Bay. Met up with Maureen and her father as we checked out a hall and church for Shannon and Maureen's wedding. It was a decent location. It's interesting to see all the thoughts that go into a wedding and how much prep time is needed.

Went back into Ottawa and watched the hockey game with Shannon and Maureen and headed home.

All in all, a most EXCELLENT day. Too bad I didn't have my camera! We could have made a mini-movie out of the stunts we pulled that day.

http://rochman.blogspot.com/
Check out Matt's blog for a recap of Friday night's poker game. I was impressed with how well I played. However, it's all about the cards you are dealt and Dave dealt really shitty once it came down to Shannon and I.

Also went to the 67's game Friday night which was fun. Beer and peanuts are the way to go at a hockey game. ACTUALLY, let's talk about peanuts for a moment. They are the ultimate snack. It takes you effort to eat them, so you don't eat much. It strengthens your thumb muscles. It helps you drink less beer at a hockey game (ideal for the guys who drive there).

Two (well used) thumbs up.

http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/2005/11/20/1315314-ap.htm

Interesting article on John Lennon.

Last night, I went to La Nouvelle Scene on King Edward to watch the play Couteau...SEPT FACONS ORIGINALES DE TUER QUELQU'UN AVEC.

This is another forray into the theatrical arts wish I thoroughly enjoy. I like going to see people act in front of me...if I may say so, it may even be better than watching a movie. I prefer the smaller productions than the massive ones where you are a kilometer away from the stage.

Let's be honest. My first language is not French. I am not perfectly bilingual. I think I'm above average. So how is watching a French play?

Not bad. I get the gist of much of the play usually (with the help of watching actions also). Sometimes they go off on monologues with lingo I don't understand...it's understandable as not many people speak the language they learn in school. Take the difference between yes/yeah and oui/ouai.

Anyhow, the play was pretty good. Actually, I personally thought it was quite disturbing. It revolved around a simple premise...a knife (couteau). The knife was shown in many different ways, whether it be in killing someone, shaving, cutting St. Hubert chicken (no joke!), or (my personal fave) being advertised on an informercial (these knives can cut through anything!).

The play revolved around a psychologist analyzing a patient who was saddened because he threw away a fisherman's knife into the water when he was a child, and that this knife was the sole thing that the fisherman loved. He ruined the fisherman's life. A dialogue would take place between the psychologist and the patient, and then the play would switch over to a different skit involving a knife...whether it be a murder, or someone shaving, etc.

The more disturbing scene was when the knife is used in a very violent fashion and you were left in shock, and then it changes the scene to the most satirical use of a knife I've ever seen - the infomercial; where the knife does not become some object of violence, but a wonder tool which can bring you happiness. I found this concept to be enthralling after witnessing the brutality of what a knife can do to a human being. Instill fear, inflict pain.

All in all, I was impressed with the entire production and one day hope to understand French just a little more so I can go back and watch this again.

Ottawa Sun Review: http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/2005/11/17/1310651.html

Wednesday night came and went in a hail of rock n' roll fury. Showed up past 7:30 but luckily the concert didn't start for another 15 minutes. Trish, Holly and Vero accompanied me on this rock n' roll experience.

Go to Row 38 and there are people in our seats. It's very tough to try and convince someone that they are in the wrong seats once the concert gets started. Very loud and you have to use a lot of hand signals. Turns out these guys were supposed to be in Row 29, not 38. If it was only two of us at the concert, I would have just given up and went to take his seats in Row 29 (which coincidentally was right in front of the freakin' catwalk!). Anyhow, he finally realized that he can be 10 rows up and bailed.

Lenny...what can I say about him? He can rock. He can groove. He can make the ladies swoon. I think I saw a few women pass out as he winked at them. Even though Lenny could hold his own in a headline spot, he took the 70 minute set instead. All the hits, including a balls-to-the-wall version of American Woman which lead quite nicely into Fly Away. I have visions of me also learning to play Are you Gonna Go My Way after seeing that in the flesh. Let Love Rule was a highlight of the night as the crowd was singing along and Steve Tyler came out to lend some vocal ramblings (read: Ramblings. You can't understand the guy!)

In between sets, Trish bought a nice Aerosmith tank top and when she was trying it on (while taking off her shirt) one dude yells out "Take it all off!" in which I promptly said "That's my sister!". Ha! Man, I love that line. Gets them every time. Turns out that Trish saw this guy being thrown out during the concert. What are the odds?

Lights go down...giant video screens play images and music of Aerosmith. I felt like I was watching a promo campaign. Very hilarious.

• Helter Skelter
• Walk this Way
• Same Old
• Cryin
• Edge
• No More
• Jaded
• Shakin My Cage
• Sweet Emotion
• Miss A Thing
• Dream On
• Thighs
• Other Side
• Baby Please
• Train-Slow Train
• Encore
• Saddle
• Draw THe Line

Highlights:

• Steve Tyler can move for an old man. I think he is more youthful than Mick Jagger and Bono.
• Joe Perry can wail on his guitar. Holly asked if what he was doing was hard. If she only really knew that we were in the presence of a God.
• I was SUPER impressed with the two ramps which went out into the arena bowl 100 level seats. Never seen that before and I think they got more audience interaction at those spots than throughout the catwalk into the floor.
• Seats on the floor area suck.
• Sweet Emotion was my personal fave. Followed closely by Baby Please.
• Paranoia by Sam Roberts just came on random shuffle on my iPod. Today will be a good day. One of my fave tunes.
• Holly was commenting on how she wished there were more new (read: 80/90s) tunes. Aerosmith must have a hard time with their fans since it's like they are in two different groups. Some prefer the old stuff, some prefer the new.
• Some dude asked me how he can go up closer in which I responded "Just walk up." Am I a wise sage or something that can magically teleport him?
• Steve Tyler can really rock. He can move more than me. The other guys appeared to be fossils on stage. Other than Joe Perry. He still has it. I think he had flames coming from his guitar at one point. That's what I'm talking about.

All in all, I was hesistant to pay $130 to go to this show, but it was justified by seeing Lenny AND Aerosmith. Two class acts. Go see them if you can.

Up next: U2. I'm trying to convince Vero that they are a decent band and she should give them a chance.

Also...Coldplay tix on sale tomorrow in Toronto. Hmm...

iplaying: (still) Paranoia by Sam Roberts - We Were Born in A Flame

Yesterday was an awful day for weather...I was stuck in both snow, freezing rain and rain at various times yesterday. It felt good to get home at night and do the running man in my bed.

Woke up in a nice toasty house. That's what life is all about. Waking up with some socks on your feet because it was freaking cold and then getting up to warm heat waves hitting your body.

Going to see Aerosmith and Lenny Kravitz tonight which should be great! Also, I picked up the U2 tix the other day, and even though they are the worst seats in the world (aka nosebleed section), I cannot knock free tix. Actually, Joelle and I are thinking of going to a scalper and upgrading to floor tix. Heck, why not?

Random things that are keeping me having an excellent day so far:
- James creating a survey on Holly-isms
- Getting paid
- Reading my Dune book
- Thinking about Christmas holidays coming up
- Not looking at my credit card statement

I like to think it's the little things in life that make me happy. ACTUALLY, this brings up an excellent lecture I was at last night on Advertising.

Supposedly, a survey was made on what people cherish most (aka material items vs. immaterial items) and of course, the immaterial items won out (aka, love, companionship, healthy lifestyle, good friends, yada yada yada) but then it goes to talk about how there are so many advertisements out there than ever before and how this has become a very material world.

My favourite part of the night was when they were talking about DeBeers and how they started the slogan for diamonds - "Diamonds are Forever.". Well, during the 30s, people were selling off their diamonds for cash so they had to think of a way for that not to happen anymore. So they started the Diamonds are Forever campaign. Essentially, never sell your diamonds because you can pass them on to family members. Hence, they can sell a whole lot more original stock since no one resells them.

This was an interesting point brought up because a) No one in the class could admit that they would ever part with their diamonds and b) It shows how advertising has influenced us.

In reality, diamonds are just another material possession. I buy a car for $25K and then I try and sell it years later. Why? Why not keep it? Cars are forever? Alright, bad example, cars break down.

What about all the junk which is in your house right now, but at the moment, you just HAD to have it? It was interesting for the teacher to imply that diamonds are just another material object that people implant thoughts into your brain about.

One woman even said that for her, diamonds represent a good, solid, healthy relationship between your partner. Well, the diamond companies really did their work on that one! (at this point in my rant, I'm not knocking anyone who have bought diamond rings for their loved ones for a marriage. Heck, I'll be doing it also.) Shouldn't our emotions and actions show that we have a good, solid, healthy relationship and not a rock? I guess a diamond is to represent this bond between two people.

That's great and all, but what if I chose to get my wife a necklace, or a colour bracelet (like everyone has nowadays) to show my love for her, and she wore it until the day she died? Is there anything wrong with that? Sure there is...people would look at us like we were freaks!

Why?

Because advertising tells us so.

I find the lecture on advertising an interesting one because a) I think a LOT of us realize what advertising does (or attempts to do) to us and b) There is no B.

Go here.

Boom.

There's goes the profits you money-mongers.

Verdict: Tenant in the right, Landlord in the wrong.

Result: $120 to replace groceries, $30 for beer.

What the heck am I talking about?

In short, a week after I moved out of Beverley House, the landlord phoned Carrie to see if it's alright to come and clean up the kitchen. No problem!

Problem is that Carrie came home to find all the contents of the cupboards in a box, as well as all food from the fridge thrown into garbage bags. We're talking condiments, frozen food (gone bad by this point of course), recently cooked stuff, juice, you name it, it was there.

So of course retaliation is in order but it turns out that the landlord doesn't think he did anything wrong since he had to make the place presentable for potential tenants. I suppose he forgot that we are doing him a favour by letting him into the place before we move out, and...oh yes, the most important thing: Carrie is still living there, hence she needs food to survive.

Anyhow, the landlord didn't budge so we went to the Housing Tribunal this morning where we got some free legal advice from an Ottawa U student (awesome! Thanks Mark!) as well as went to a mediator instead of having to go in front of the court. The landlord wouldn't budge while talking with the mediator, but after she spoke to him alone, we came back in and he offered to pay $150 which we gladly accepted.

Lesson #1 Learned: Did you know that legal advice is free in a lot of places? Bring it to the University's if you need to! They handle tenant cases a lot of the time.

In the end, justice prevailed. We are happy with the result, although are still baffled as to how someone could manage to believe they have the right to do something like that to us. All along, we were just trying to be nice and let them work on the house before we left.

Lesson #2 Learned: When it comes to landlords and tenants, sometimes it doesn't pay to be nice.

Someone just called me Scrooge because I did not wish to partake in:

a) Helping out at a soup kitchen
b) Going carolling

before/during/after a Christmas party I'm holding.

Their reason for calling me Scrooge was this: "Because you don't want to do a charity thing..."

I know this person does not have ill intentions at saying this, but at the same time, I have to wonder, does everyone automatically feel this way when you approach them with a charitable idea and you kindly refuse because you either

a) Have other plans
b) Do your own charity thing throughout the Holidays

Just because someone says they are not interested in helping out does not mean that they don't want to do charity things.

Now I'm in a position where I feel like a Scrooge, but at the same time, I don't feel like I have to rhyme off every good thing I do for charity just to prove a point.

Lesson Learned: Don't call anyone Scrooge (unless their name is actually Scrooge. Or if they blatantly tell you that they abhor charity work and do not believe in helping others. That's just plain mean. They really ARE Scrooge!)

Have a court date with the Housing Tribunal vs. our old landlord. Carrie and I think we'll nail the session, but who knows how these things work? I'm thinking it won't be anything like Law and Order and I won't have the opportunity to yell out "I WANT THE TRUTH!"

Perhaps I can blog live from the event...

iplaying: The Hardest Part - Coldplay (coming on tour again! Here's hoping I actually get to go this time!)

Want to see a kid have the fear of God put into him? Go to Blockbuster and have the clerk tell you that if you don't bring in that video game you rented, you owe Blockbuster $60 for the game. But you get to keep it.

Wanted to rent The Devil's Rejects, sequel to House of 1000 Corpses (only one of the cooler horror films I've seen in awhile), but they were out. So why not purchase a few films while I'm there? I rarely rent movies anymore because it's just as expensive as buying previously viewed ones.

Picked up The Machinist and Sin City. The Machinist has Christian Bale (aka the American Psycho, aka the dude behind the Batsuit with the big gruff voice) who is a favourite actor of mine. Eric and I sat down to watch the movie on a cloudy Sunday afternoon where we proceeded to get freaked out from the movie soundtrack. It didn't help when a picture fell down behind us (which was leaning on top of the couch) and scared the bejeezus out of us.

Anyhow, the movie is excellent. For a long, long time, I didn't know where the movie was going. But once again, one of those movies that pulls you in throughout the entire 2 hours and then the big payoff is the ending where you go "NO WAY! I can't believe they did that!".

5 stars, 2 thumbs, whatever you want to use to measure a success. Go see this flick.

Matt picked up a new pair of leather mitts while in Montreal at Simon's. This was before he got told he wasn't supposed to take pictures within the store.

Query: That's the second time that day that he was told 'No pictures tabernac!'. What's up with that? Are they scared of us stealing fashion secrets. Pssst...you have a flyer! We can see your clothing outside your store!

Anyhow, Matt left these mitts in my car and so I thought I would let you all know how they fare in certain scenarios.

Scenario #1: Cold Weather Testing
Well, I put them on and walked outside for awhile. My fingers did not get cold at all. Two thumbs up (literally. They are mitts!). However, to give the ultimate test I went down the street to pick up some liquid nitrogen. I dipped these bad boys in and am happy to say that my fingers survived the ordeal.

Scenario #2: Hot Weather Testing
Chances are, you don't wear your mitts outside in hot weather. But you never know. So I went ahead and fired up the BBQ to put a steak on and decided to use the mitts to flip the steak. My only beef with the mitts is that licking the BBQ sauce off your fingers doesn't really taste that great when your fingers are leather. Other than a few grill marks on the mitts, I would say that the gloves protected my hands, but they did become very hot and sweaty. One (mitt) thumb up for that test.

Scenario #3: Cleaning up Dog Poop.
What can I say? I didn't get any on my fingers. The mitts did their job.

There you have it. Matt's mitts are excellent and I'm sure he will be happy with them as soon as he picks them up.

• Pinion
• Love is not enough
• You know what you are?
• Terrible Lie
• The Line Begins to blur
• March of the Pigs
• Something I can never have
• The Frail
• The Wretched
• Closer
• BURN
• Gave up
• Eraser
• Right where it belongs
• Beside you in time
• With Teeth
• Wish
• Only
• Even Deeper
• Dead Souls
• Suck
• Hurt
• The hand that feeds
• Head like a hole

Went down to Montreal on Friday with Matt, Trish and Jennie. Shopped around for a bit...very cold that day in Montreal. We were caught inside this frigid wind tunnel. Ended up at Reuben's for a nice Reuben sandwich which everyone enjoyed. One day I'm going to have to dig into the pound of smoked meat.

Went to the Bell Centre and managed to walk right up to the doors cutting past a 1/2 hour wait in line. Some people are stupid. Just go through the OTHER doors with the security guard waiting there.

Checked out Death From Above 1979 who were decent. May have to check out the rest of their stuff.

Queens of the Stone Age...what can I say about this band? I have SO many friends who are into this band. I can't say they were a bad act...I enjoyed them. But would I buy an album? Probably not. Just doesn't hook me in. Highlight of the night was when they finished off with No One Knows and messed up in the second verse, but instead of stopping right there, they cut into a 10 minute long jam session, then bring it back to the song. Brilliant. That's a good live band for you right there.

NIN showed up on stage around 9:45. They had a semi-transparent curtain in front of them which managed to become the means of some great lighting effects. I've been telling people that NIN is one of those bands that give a visual experience as well as an audio experience. They had a great backdrop which played along with the With Teeth artwork nicely. My favourite lighting effect was when they had a line spreading across the backdrop and everytime it hit upon one of the solid blocks, the block became red. Very hard to explain in words, but think of how a virus works. As soon as the virus hits you, it spreads, and then continues onto the next victim.

I also enjoyed when the curtain came back down and they played a series of movies while the band played on. Movie highlights included monkeys attacking each other and George Dubyah ballroom dancing. At one point, the movie changed so it looked like NIN was playing behind a waterfall...then Trent swings his mic stand towards the curtain and the video appears to smash into pieces. Brilliant. I do hope there will be another live DVD for this tour. There HAS to be.

My highlight of the night was hearing Burn...one of my fave tunes and I don't think it's ever been played live (until this tour). I was freaking out.

Thanks to Christelle who hooked me up with an audio recording of the show. Awesome. I really enjoy her blog and what she does for her concert reviews. It gives me an idea of what to do with mine.

On a random other note, I've started hanging up pictures around the house and I started to frame up concert reviews from newspapers along with the ticket stub. I think it looks sharp and I like it better than hanging out inside my scrap book. I now have to search the world (aka Ontario) for newspaper clippings for the past 10 years. Good luck with that buddy. Hey, if any of you out there actually keep newspapers like the Toronto Star or the Ottawa Citizen let me know!

nowblissfullyenteringmyears: The Frail [Live in Montreal - 2005-11-11] - NIN, thanks to Christelle.

Sony BMG is going down.

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5944643.html

Also, Mel has a blog now. Welcome to cyberscape. Enjoy your stay.

Live 8 DVD: Live 8 4 Disc Set holding virtually all the Philly and London concerts, interspersed with other highlights (like Neil Young!). They also have separate DVDs for the other countries like Canada. Yay! What's my beef with this? You would think that if they are splurging to have an entire DVD dedicated to Canada, they would include the whole concert. Sam Roberts and Our Lady Peace (amongst others) get cut down to one song out of three that they played. I'm almost willing to just download the TV broadcast off the Internet.

Amazon Wish List: This year, I'm thinking of setting up a Wish List on Amazon.ca for Christmas. I'm thinking that 90% of the things I would want can be found on Amazon, and they offer decent prices. Books, CDs, DVDs, video games...pretty well whatever I want for the holidays. I recommend it to all of you!

Alternative Work Arrangements: I'm going to start working extra hours so that I can get every second Friday off. If any of you are able to do this at your workplace, I suggest it! I may grow tired of working 50 extra minutes a day, but the thought of an entire Friday off will help me get through it!

Let's recap:
I won two tickets to a win-to-get-in OLP concert at Massey Hall, along with a bus ride which we didn't bother taking and a night at the Bond Place Hotel.

On Sunday, November 6, Vero and I awoke and went to watch Dwayne's kids swim in the public pool which was fun. Aidan is fun to watch as the kid never has a frown on his face. The world is his oyster.

We drove downtown Toronto to go pick up our tickets to the show and ended up with some Rogers swag (mugs, satchel bag!!!) and a sweet $50 in cash for spending money. YEAH!

We then met up with Ryan and Robyn as seen in the previous entry about Body Worlds 2.

We get to the concert hall and find ourselves in the left balcony pretty well in front of the stage. Not too shabby seats. It was an interesting birds eye view of the stage. I thought the floor may have been better but I really enjoyed this view.

Setlist:

• Picture
• Starseed
• Innocent

• Angels/Losing/Sleep

• Clumsy

• Wipe that Smile Off Your Face

• In Repair

• Car Crash

• Where Are You

• Is Anybody Home?

• Al Genina

• Waited

• Walking in Circles

• Thief

• Boy

• Will the Future Blame Us

• Superman's Dead

• 4AM

• The World on a String

• Apology

• Somewhere Out There

• Naveed

Highlights of the night:
- Entire concert being filmed for what we thought would be a live DVD, but turns out to be a Rogers-on-Demand concert (still great! I'll have to download it when it comes out!)
- Raine Maida climbing the speaker stack to go into the right balcony during Will the Future Blame Us. AMAZING! I was telling Vero earlier of how Eddie Vedder did this sort of thing in concert halls and then balcony-dove into the crowd. Nuts. Turns out that a few people from Ottawa U (friends of Vero) were actually RIGHT THERE in the right balcony where he was. Insane. Wish it would have been us.
- New acoustic intro to Clumsy
- Rant of George W. Bush during Wipe That Smile Off Your Face. "This is war, now." Amazing.

All in all, I would have to say it's probably the best OLP concert I've been to (surprisingly since I was in seats). I felt that they've hit a stride with their new album which I hope they run with.

iplaying: One [Live in Montreal - 2001-10-12 - That's the concert I was at!] - U2. Bono is going on about meeting with Paul Martin about abolishing the African debt at the next G8 Summit. Interesting to see what has happened in 2005 and what was spoken about in 2001.

Last night after class I was standing at the bus stop freezing my ass off. I was listening to some tunes and didn't really catch what was going on when a gentleman was addressing the crowd. I caught the end of his speech of being from Toronto and needing money to stay at the shelter. Heck, it's only spare change, I'll give him some...

My only beef with this gentleman is that when he walking across the street to ask some others for change, he thanked those who passed along some cash, but then he said "And thanks to all the others." in a sarcastic fashion.

He also continued his sarcastic comments on how he appreciated how the people who didn't give him any money helped him out SO much this night.

<Start Palmer's Rant right here> No one in the world has the right to demand anything. If you need help, thank those who help you and be thankful. Don't be spiteful. I wanted to call out to him and ask for my money back because no one deserves to feel bad about a choice they've made. Read that again: No one deserves to feel bad about a choice THEY'VE made.<end Palmer's Rant right here>

Robyn spied this on the wall at Kit Kat which was hilarious. Turns out that it is a play found here.

Who would have thought?

It was great seeing Ryan and Robyn in Toronto on Sunday. We met up to to the Ontario Science Museum for the Body Worlds 2 exhibit. The exibit has been on display in Europe for quite some time as the person responsible for the exhibit hails from Germany. Gunther von Hagens plasticizes dead things. There were literally dead people who had their skin removed so that we can see how their bones/muscles/ligaments fit together. They were placed into a variety of positions such as a ballerina, a woman doing yoga, a baseball player. The skateboarder was cool actually. They even sliced up people so you can see how all the parts of the body are put together. VERY COOL exhibit and I would recommend it to anyone who can handle a good dead body. To be honest, I didn't feel like they were cadavers as they appeared to be mannequins.

New York Subway.

Miguel introduced me to the best gourmet burrito in the world. I introduced Vero and even though hers was too spicy, she enjoyed it.

I can still taste the goodness in my mouth.

If you are on Queen Street West, you MUST go try a satay lamb burrito. For those who don't like the thought of eating baby lambs, try the chicken or the beef!

"There is no director attached to the project, nor have any cast members been announced. The sequel has already earned over $60 million in two weeks and cost only $4 million to make." - Dark Horizons regarding Saw III

Holy crap. We need James in here stat to do some calculations as to what % increase that is.

If I were to create something, I would be happy with doubling my money. This is crazy. I don't usually follow how much movies cost vs. how much they make.

Just goes to show that if you have a good concept that is cheap (Saw...takes place in virtually one room. Maybe a few scenes here and there) it will pay off in spades.

Emphasis on good concept and not some unoriginal piece of junk like National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2.

Saturday morning, haul my ass out of bed and get going to Toronto for the weekend.

Picked up a few albums on the way there however to tide myself over on a music fix.

My Chemical Romance: Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge - As you know, I downloaded this a few weeks ago as per Mike's suggestion and felt it was worthy of a purchase. If you know me, you'll know I'm not into downloading from an artist. Hey, let's be honest, I've done it without purchasing. But I try not to. I like the system of how I can listen to an album and decide if it's worthy of my cash.

Matt Mays & El Torpedo - What can I say about these guys? Saw them open for Sam Roberts last year and they rocked. Bought his album that night and frankly, it blew. It wasn't bad persay, but it was more of country-rock like Neil Young and not the rocking show that I saw that night. So when their new album came out, I was hesistant. But then I kept hearing some great singles. Then I realized that his cohorts in crime (El Torpedo) came on board AFTER his first album which he recorded on his own. Great! This must mean that the second album will have some more rock than country. Upon first listen...meh. I'll have to give it another try as it was more background music to a car trip than a real listen. But...I noted a lack of rock throughout the entire album.

Car ride to Toronto was great. Vero turns out to be a good traveller...you never know if someone might up being super annoying and trying to change the music all the time.

Dropped into the aunt's place where I had a nice surprise of seeing Rick and Dwayne since it was Rick's birthday. Unfortunate that I did not know that beforehand or I would have passed on Medieval Times. They are trying to convince me to come down next weekend for a little gettogether (read: party till I bleed) but we'll see. Two essays are calling my name, but I'm making an honest effort to get them done so that I can go down to Toronto again. I wasn't originally going to, but the itch is within me after seeing them for a short time.

And off we went to Medieval Times...alas, it's getting late. I'll write more tomorrow.

Friday night...Jody's going away party. Good times had with a colleague who came from the Rock and is now returning.

The party was hosted by the lovely folks of Pansy Avenue and we were treated to smoke salmon (mmmboy), desserts, chili, and copious amounts of wine.

I must say that Maren's parties are high up there on lists of events. They are not to be missed. I was disappointed that no one wanted to partake in the limbo once again, but at least we brought out the darts (to the fear of everyone around us).

Thanks Maren & co. for the wild times! I'm sure a few pictures will appear on the gallery soon enough.

Also picked up an album from AP by Steve Cuch. He's from Sudbury and there's a song about AP's sister on the album...so far, not a bad album. Low key, acoustic stuff. This may be the way that Mike and I wish to go with our first attempt at recording. Just simple stuff really.

iplaying: 3Am by Matchbox Twenty

I'm going to send out an apology right now to everyone who I've been meaning to have over to my place, but just haven't had over yet.

I live a nomadic life nowadays, where I either spend my time over at Vero's or at class, or at work, or travelling through all of that. I would say that I am at my house a total of 10 hours a week (not including sleep time).

I find it ironic that as soon as I buy a house, I am no longer at it. I do not regret this as I want to focus my energies on education (and the new relationship of course. Props out to Vero!)

In order to ensure our security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first GALACTIC EMPIRE...wait a second, where did that come from?

What I meant to say is that the first annual Palmer Christmas Bash shall be forthcoming in December. I'll check my exam schedule and I also suggest you let me know what Saturday's are good for you. I'm assuming the 10th/17th are the ideal choice for people.

Also, hokey Christmas sweaters are definitely mandatory. You have enough time to knit one.

I can forsee this to be a grand event involving decorating Palmer's pad for the holidays...we shall string popcorn, put up a tree, hang mistletoe around...dip into the eggnog and apple cider!

As I walk on the Ottawa U campus, I look around at the falling leaves, feel the chill in the air and see my girlfriend's photo on a poster.

What?

Vero is quite the photogenic person. She appears on a billboard on the campus that has been there for a few years, and now she is the poster child for the Winter Challenge.

It's strange just waiting for an elevator and looking at a poster with your girlfriend on it. It's cool though...she should get royalties.

But imagine yourselves looking at someone you know on posters plastered all over your building.

Contractor guy comes to me the first week I move in and says "Hey, I'm building the mini-mall in the back of you and need to use some electricity to recharge the batteries in my scissor-lifts". Being a good samaritan I say 'No Problem' and he says he'll give me $10/day.

I'm thinking that is a good deal. I swear most of the people who talked to me was saying "Oh my God Ryan, you're going to get screwed when you get your bill! You don't know how much electricity he's using!"

They have a point, but I'm thinking there's no way that he'll go above $10/day. I mean...electricity bills are under $150 for 2 months usually (at least they are for me).

Got a cool $100 from the guy a few weeks ago.
Got my bill yesterday.
Verdict?
My electricity bill came out to $70 for the last two months.

Booya. I just got someone to pay for my bill plus have enough to buy a case of beer.

Lesson Learned: Don't think everyone in the world is out to scam you. Sometimes you get rewarded for helping others.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=18325

An excellent review of Office Space: Special Edition. I was tempted to pick this up at Wal-Mart yesterday.

Speaking of Wal-Mart, no bonus DVD with copies of Revenge of the Sith at Canadian Wal-Marts! Booo!

We're going to see Saw 2 tonight at SilverCity if anyone wants to join. We're also meeting up at Moxie's at 5:30. Need a reservation so if you want in, let us know so we can up the reservation number.

Heck, why make a new entry when I can just edit this one?

Alright, so Joe, Trish and I went to Moxie's for some great grub. I recommend the Shanghai Fat Noodles. They were tres fat. AND THE WASHROOMS! My Lord! I now want a urinal with a tv in front of it. This washroom had tvs, a fireplace and I'm pretty sure that dude would have wiped my ass if I asked him to. It was great.

Shopped around Future Shop and Chapters and then headed to the movie. Picked up the new Star Wars Insider. I must get the Star Wars Fan Club membership instead of picking up these magazines at the newstand. I think the membership costs $50, and six magazines a year cost $60. You do the math. PLUS, I get access to the archives on their website. Sweet.

What can I say about Saw II? Throughout the movie I felt that it wasn't holding my interest quite as it did as the first movie. It was decent, but not what I was expecting for a sequel.

Until the end! In true Saw-fashion, the ending kicked ass and I left the movie satisfied.

I recommend this movie to only those not of the faint of heart. I don't think Trish particularly cared for it. I think Saw was pretty gruesome, but I think Saw II got pretty crazy at the end. Don't know if the kids would care for it.

Question of the night: Does the ending of a movie make the movie? Let's analyze...did I care for the entire movie up until the end? It was decent. Not the best, but decent. Nothing really happened. A few crazy scenes here and there, but nothing over the top. What the heck am I saying? It was all over the top...but in between the crazy scenes it didn't really engage me. But here I am saying to go see this movie because I thought overall it was great, but the ending may be telling me to say that.

So, can you think of movies you've seen where you thought the film was mediocre, but the ending made up for it?

I can think of one. My fave Matrix movie - The Matrix Reloaded. I am more satisfied if I just cut to the scene where they visit the Merovingian. That's where the movie takes off for the last hour. Non-stop action. Maybe this is a bad example considering an entire hour of a movie can't be considered an ending.

nowplaying: Pennies by The Smashing Pumpkins (Billy's Gravity Demos I)

So every time I get a question pertaining to my life from an e-mail (mostly from Robyn) I figure, I may as well write about it in my blog to update everyone.

School: So far, so good. Great actually. Just got a mid-term back...70%. Not the best in the world, but I felt better after the Professor said the average was 65% and that is consistent with every year he teaches.

Query: Why the heck wouldn't he just make it a tad more easier so students can get a better mark? Shouldn't he try and make the tests so someone can potentially get in the 90s?

Received my essay back from the other class and received a cool 78%. Nice. I'm on a roll. Next up, must sign up for two other classes for the Winter term. Vero kept saying I should sign up before they all fill up in which I just procrastinated. Now I don't know if I'll get the section I want. D'oh! I'll see if Vero can work her Ottawa U magic like last time. This time around, I want to take classes on Monday and Tuesday. I found that Tuesday and Thursdays broke up my week too much and that I haven't had much stability in the social/housing/getting groceries department. We'll see how back-to-back classes treats me.

Next up: A research essay that I think I'm going to swing for both classes. Two birds, one stone, right?


Star Wars: Where would this blog be without Star Wars? Episode III came out on DVD yesterday. I am very excited to check out the documentaries and deleted scenes. I, myself did not purchase it as I am holding out for a great box set in the future. However, I did manage to find a great bootleg copy on Somerset St. for $10. That will hold me over for the time being.

Got the Art of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith book yesterday in the mail. It's my first 'Art of' book...looks pretty cool! I am enjoying seeing how a design morphs into a final product. There is also a screenplay inside that I will take a look at since it has some extra scenes (such as Qui-Gon talking with Yoda about living on through the Force.)


Other than that, go check out the wild Hallowe'en costumes on the photo gallery!

nowplaying: Jackboot by the Smashing Pumpkins (Billy's Gravity Demos I)

If anyone would care to go to Medievel Times in Toronto this coming Saturday, November 5th at 7:30, let me know! Vero and I will be in Toronto to see OLP on the Sunday. Tix come out to $75.