Palmer's World

Yesterday I had the great opportunity to participate in a talent show at work. They ended up renting out a theatre in the Museum of Civilization that seats 500 people! Yowzahs! I sang Through The Glass by Stone Sour (one of the Top 40 hits out there right now) along with co-worker Shawn who is big into these things. He found out I played guitar back when we were baking bread a few months back so he thought I may be interested.

All along, I thought "Sure, this will be fun" but I didn't realize the sheer size of the production until going for a soundcheck in the morning - along with those handy dandy monitor speakers at your feet so you can hear how you sound. That threw me off big time as the monitors were so loud that I couldn't hear myself strum. That freaked me out for the remainder of the day, but luckily the sound guys turned them down for the performance.

Gigtime hit fast and Shawn was nowhere to be found. Doh! There were people rushing around trying to find him so they told me to just go on stage as it's no fun watching an empty stage. I saunter out to some cheers (thanks to whoever cheered!) and sat myself and plugged myself in.

The first thing that struck me was that the spotlights make it so you can't see the crowd. So it was surreal experience…almost like I was alone on stage with a black void in front of me that has whispers and claps coming out of nowhere.

The MC came out to talk a bit while Shawn was getting ready (no jack cord) and we had a good banter together. My favourite part was when he mentioned our Director General was in the audience today so I made a comment that she was the best DG we ever had. That had the audience roaring! Sophia actually caught all of this on video which was great.

We started off as soon as Shawn was set up and ripped through the song. It was great. I must admit that I had some lyrics at my feet which became my crutch and I read off of them. I'm so used to them and have no faith in myself when it comes to memorized lyrics. I feel that if I'm searching my head for what lyric comes next, then I don't put as much passion into my vocal performance. However, I know I had memorized these lyrics as I had been practicing for some time now, but when the crutch is there, you take it. Not a big deal. In the grand scheme of things, when you're in a theatre that size, no one notices what directions your eyes are pointing towards (aka, down at the floor at your lyric sheet).

Everything sounded great and we were both impressed. It's funny…I realize that the performer doesn't get to take the applause in afterwards…it's just a rush off of stage and a rush of adrenaline now that you're finished that hits you and you don't even realize what's going on until you're backstage and thinking "Hey, they're clapping for us!"

All in all, a great experience. I have no idea how many people were out there. I would estimate between 200-300. Probably your standard wedding size. One day I'll hit up the stadium tour circuit and see what the crowds are like there. Speaking about stadium tours, one of the guys there was telling me their band won a competition to open for Tom Cochrane years ago at the Corel Centre. He said it was surreal playing for that many people. Awesome!

Thanks to Shawn for inviting me to take part in the peformance du jour.

Santa Claus (no E) writes:
"$341.00 for a christmas list.....I hate Christmas lists.....my my my what ever happened to .. imagination, listening, looking, making mental notes....Come on folks..... this is Christmas, time to give surprises...not things that people tell you to get...."

For once, I agree with one of the comments left on my site. Santa Claus has hit the nail on the head.

I personally do not care for wish lists. Sure, when I was a kid, they were fine because you could hint towards your parents about the things you wanted...especially the ONE gift you couldn't do without.

But nowadays, when everyone can afford anything they want (well not EVERYTHING, but a lot of stuff that would make it onto a Christmas list at least), I would rather be surprised with my gifts. I would rather people take a step back, think about who I am and realize what I would appreciate.

Now...the reason I made the list is for the people who just aren't around me enough to figure out what I would like. Let's take the parents for example...living away from them, they can't peruse what I own and say "Hey, Ryan probably needs a new hammer!". It's hard! Hence, the list makes things a little easier, or at the very least, gives an idea. For example, I listed a few Beatles books on my list last year. The parents didn't get me them, but they picked up another gem of a Beatles book which I'm reading right now which is really great! It's probably the best gift I got last year. (Vero, if you're reading this, I'm lying...your gifts were the best! You know it's true!) So with the list, they deduced other items that I would enjoy.

So...do I like the idea of a gift list? No...but I understand why there is sometimes a need for it. Sort of like wedding registries.

Where wish lists go wrong is when a person is DISAPPOINTED that they don't get something off of the list. That's just lame. Remind me to introduce you to coal next year bub.

As for the $341 comment...holy crap, I don't expect to get anywhere near all the items on the list. It's more of a 'pick and choose if you can't figure out anything else' deal.

For those wishing to pick up yours truly a gift (Mom/Dad, I'm looking at you here..), I have created a wish list on Amazon.com

Actually, you may wish to actually order through Amazon.com (instead of Amazon.ca) to save some money. I have just received the following note from Artoo concerning his Alias boxset that he ordered through amazon.com:

"Yep.. Got it last Friday. No duties = shipped in Canada as per your blog entry. Set is beautiful. I believe they relay the shipments as the outside box is shipped from Canada. The inside plastic said an address from the US."


Here's the list.

I had to go to Hell and back last night to pick up my iPod from the repair shop. You send the iPod in via UPS, but they send it back via some obscure shipping company called DHL. Considering I had to sign for the package, I had to arrange to pick it up at their depot.

Their depot was in south Nepean. Krista was gracious to lend me her wheels for the adventure so we high-tailed it down to South Nepean to find this depot. Keep in mind that it's dark, it's rainy and it's 5 PM. That's right, rush hour.

Let me just say this…traffic is literally insane once you get to the junction of Hunt Club and Prince of Wales, otherwise known as the Gateway To Barrhaven. I don't even know how people can manage getting into that cramped in spot to their community. Gak. I almost got caught in it, but didn't make the turn quick enough but realized I can just go up another block and find the depot easily.

Anyhow, after some pains at the depot, I ripped open my package to find a brand new iPod! Yay! Now, it's not the newest version (which I had thought for a whole two minutes as it said iPod instead of iPod photo on the back) but it is a new iPod with a colour screen (no video capabilities).

After a swim with Vero on Sunday, I jumped into the fire with a project that I had put on hold for quite some time. This project involves tedious, monotonous work which some days is fine, others not so much.

I am scanning my parents old photo albums for archival purposes. I figured with the technology around me, why do my parents get to enjoy all the photos? I borrowed the bulk of their albums last year but then a few months ago Mom wanted them back so I kept a few that I was in the middle of scanning. I suppose my eyes were bigger than my belly taking this project on. I would say an entire photo album can take upmost of 5 hours to properly archive.

I am what is referred to as 'anal' when it comes to organization of things I'm passionate about. Music, photographs, etc. Granted, if you saw my bedroom, you would think I'm not passionate about my clothing as they are strewn about!

So with the advances in digital photography, I realized that it's not just enough to scan the photos and crop them. I wanted to know what date the picture was taken to encode that data into the photo. Then, when I organize all the photos, they are by date, or the closest approximation. I think later on when I get bored, I would like to add text to each photo also so that I don't lose factual information such as who is in the picture. There are quite a few pictures from the parents stash that I just don't know who is in the picture, but I should have a record of it. I think I may bring the few albums I have scanned to my Mom and sit down with her and write down who was in the picture, or even the story behind the pictures.

Sure, I am ambitious about this project today, but the sheer size of it dwarfs my ambitions and this is why it's taken me a year to scan three albums and properly tag them.

The COOL thing about tagging my photos by 'Date Photo Taken' is that if I upload them to a photo site…let's say FLICKR, then I can browse my photos by date taken. It's interesting to look back in the 80s when I was a kid and pinpoint the actual date where the picture was taken. At least I think it's cool. Some people are just more interested in the actual pictures, not when they were taken. I wish I was like that!

The other thing I start to wonder about is how do the older folk feel about their pictures going on the Internet. I haven't heard any complaints from my friends about the pictures I put online…if anything it helps them out as they have a cental repository to access the photos. But what about the older folk out there, or more personal pictures like baby photos and whatnot? That's where I think a courtesy call to people should be issued to find out if they mind if their photos can be placed on the 'net. Sure, there's a way to make them private, but it's a pain to issue guest passes to check out the flickr site if someone wants to check them out. WAY easier to make them public.

So, as you may all know, I may be responsible for borrowing Rob's ladder for the better part of a year. Well, he finally came to collect a few weeks ago, but I didn't have the foresight to put up my Christmas lights beforehand. I use my ladder twice a year - once to put them up, once to take them down. A purchase of a ladder seems useless to me. ACTUALLY, I should have looked into renting one for the day instead of purchasing one.

Anyhow, it was a beautiful, beautiful day on Saturday with the sun shining bright. We haven't seen too much sun in awhile so Vero and I decided to walk to Canadian Tire to check out the ladders. Once we get there, we find two ladders that I have to choose between.

One, is the household grade - load rate of 200 lbs. $40.
The other, a professional grade is rated for 225 lbs. $70.

Now, here I am thinking I don't really feel like forking out an extra $30 on a ladder for an extra 25 lbs. Then I start wondering what does 'load rating' actually mean? Is it really the maximum they can guarantee safety for and after that, they are not responsible? After debating this point with Vero (as I though the 200 pound one would be fine), she convinced me to get the Professional grade one. I seriously doubt that the ladder would simply crumble under the weight of this 200 lb man along with a bucket of paint, but I figured, why take the risk? So please, someone reassure me that the 200 lb ladder could have definitely supported my weight!

Anyhow, we walked the ladder back home and stumbled into Eric and Annie along with Eric's parents who were hunting the neighbourhood for us. After chatting, we got home, fixed an eavestrough (well, I hope it's fixed now…I haven't tested it yet) and Vero and Caroline put up the Christmas lights. They look supreme. I'm not going to turn them on until December 1st, but I figured why bother waiting until it's -20 degrees outside to put up lights when I can put them up on a nice warm day? Let's flashback for a moment last year when I was at Eric's freezing my hands off putting up HIS lights for him. I don't know how that happened. Plus, I heard the 2 year-old kid next door banging her little shovel on something and said "Hey Eric, it sounds like she's hitting your car!" and then he said "Nope, she's hitting yours!" and then I look back and sure enough, there she is banging her shovel against my car! You can't get mad at a two-year old so luckily the mom came over and scooped up her kid.

The evening brought us to the main strip to catch the Parade of Lights! We happened upon the sign outside the firehall and thought it would be a great event. I can't even remember the last time I saw a parade, although I have a vague recollection of a parade in Abitibi Canyon which is strange because I was 3 years old. Perhaps it wasn't a parade…maybe a carnival of some sorts?

The parade was amazing! We opened up the thermos of hot apple cider and watched the spectacle pass us by. Being a parade of lights, all the floats had a generator hooked up to them and it was a bright sight! I especially like the OC Transpo bus decked out a like a Santa Claus! Hilarious! We were very impressed by the parade as it lasted a whole hour. Good times were had and I think the entire population of Orleans showed up for it. If you have the chance, come out next year!

OH my. This is one of those movies that you would cringe at if you brought your mother to. But luckily, I had Vero instead and we had a barrel of laughs at this movie! We started off the night by hitting up Moxie's where the shanghai noodles were so-so. I think they changed their recipe on it. We then traipsed around the area looking for new shoes for yours truly as I like to wear them out to the point where when it rains, my feet get soaked. I just can't find any that will replace my $10 pair of shoes that I got in Boston a few years ago.

Borat begins in all its goodness…bringing us a glimpse of his life in Kazahkstan. The story is that Borat is going to film a documentary for his country on how Americans live. So he sets out and hilarity ensues. If anyone has seen Da Ali G Show and seen Borat in his glory before, you have to understand that the movie ups the bar (as it should!) and delivers some shocking, shocking material. Stuff where the whole theatre gasps and then one lone voice starts cracking up at the absurdity of it all.

Revolving around a simple plotline of Borat trying to meet Pamela Anderson, the movie pulls some tricks out of its hat from the TV show and there are some similar events happening (like Borat visiting the Feminist club), but overall, the movie is amazing. We had a great time watching it. I would recommend the TV show to anyone, and if you enjoy it and are able to accept crude, crude humour, then Borat is for you.

On a separate note, Vero and I hit up Future Shop to take a look at a MacBook (that's a laptop by Apple for all you non-geeks). For the past year I have wanted to pick one up, but it's this thing where I always can't justify the purchase of a laptop when I have some other debts to take care of. Then, on the other hand, I think I'll never be out of debt so why bother waiting? ;-) Anyhow, for Black Friday, they had $200 the laptop which was a steal. I was tempted, but reality set in and I realized that today wasn't the day for the MacBook, regardless of the savings.

Did I forget to mention that Matt and Jenn hosted an excellent potluck/games night last week?

The highlight of the night is when we pulled out the game Battle of the Sexes. Now, knowing me as you all do, you know that I get a little more competitive when games turn into competitions of guys vs. girls. Classic examples of this are Disney Trivial Pursuit circa 95-97, Christmas Party '05, and…well there's a lot.

The game Battle of the Sexes involves each team starting on opposite ends of the board and they get to move one space forward for every question they get right. There are also spots on the board where you get to pick up a wild card (like Community Chest in Monopoly) where they can take spaces away from you, or give you spaces to move forward.

The game was a little intense. Personally, the boys felt that the questions were a little skewed towards the girls favour for the sole fact that girls know a lot about guy stuff by the sheer fact that they are inundated with it throughout our society. Anything about television is not male specific, it is gender-neutral. Anything about movies should be gender-neutral. So, while the ladies got the questions about movies and music and TV, we got questions like "What do you put on first, lipstick or lip liner?". Good lord.

Anyhow, we were 20 spaces behind and the girls only needed one more spot. While the rest of the crew that we were done for, I noticed that we were one question away from hitting the WILD CARD spot. "Guys, let's play it out." I proclaim. "We haven't played this game before, perhaps there's an 'advance to the end of the board' card tucked away in there." While most of the guy outright dismissed me, Matt picked up the top wild card to see if it would be possible and the look on his face was sheer amazement. He didn't say a word but from the look in his eyes, I knew we had it.

Sure enough, the question comes, we answer correctly and then pick up a wild card. I believe the card said something to the effect of "Your wife is 8 months pregnant. It's 3:00 in the morning and she wants pickles so you drive out to the grocery store to get some. Bravo! Advance to the end."

Once again, the cheers to the tune of "Na na na nah…hey hey…goooddddbye!" appeared in our lives as we danced around living in the victory once again. The girls dismissed our win as pure luck, but in my books, a win is a win. If the girls wish to say we don't have talent because we win by luck…so be it. That's how millions of dollars are won in a lottery. Who's laughing now?

Ahhh…I can't wait for the big trivia contest at Christmas. I predict some big wins once again.

Now that the Christmas is slowly approaching (wait, no, it's here! What the heck?!), it's time to think about gifts.

I have some scoop on how to get a little more for your money this holiday season.

Everyone knows about the website amazon.ca. You can order anything your heart desires off of this website.

There is also amazon.com, the US equivalent.

Now, USUALLY when someone buys something from the States, it gets dinged at the border with duty/taxes whatever and the price pretty well is the same as you would get it in Canada. It all depends on how much the item is to begin with.

But, what if I were to tell you that if you order from amazon.com, all you have to pay is the exchange rate, and you wouldn't get dinged on duty/taxes?

That's what's been going on for the last while. Our good friend, Benoit has tried this out for the Alias boxset. I have not heard from him on whether or not he received it yet, but his friends have contacted me and said that they have had NO problems using this method and receiving the items without duty/taxes.

The theory behind this? Amazon is a globalized company. In their wisdom (and to save on shipping costs), they fill the order in from the closest warehouse - hence, the one located in Canada, NOT the US.

Caveat emptor people...this may not be a guaranteed thing. Maybe they'll figure us out one day.

Last night, because I am an old man and do not wish to see Death of a President at 10PM, Anne-Marie and I decided to hit up some artsy flick at the Bytowne Cinema. It was called Manufactured Landscapes, which looked at Edward Burtynsky's visit to China to photograph the Three Gorges dam.

While waiting for Anne-Marie, I stumbled into this great bookstore right next to the Bytowne Cinema and found Pierre Trudeau's Memoirs for $7. You can't go wrong. I wonder what revealing stories I will stumble upon there? Hey, while we're on the subject of books, I'm currently in the middle of a slew of them. Reading bits here and there. I am reading Ian Fleming's For Your Eyes Only which has a bunch of James Bond short stories, one of which has Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang travelling from Montreal to Ottawa! I was plesantly surprised! Why don't we ever see that trek in the films?

The other book I'm reading (well, other than Casino Royale which I have lost) is Magical Mystery Tours by Tony Bramwell. I received this from my parents last year at Christmas and I figured I should actually get around to reading it before a new Christmas is upon us! It follows childhood friend of the Beatles, Tony Bramwell around on his life with the Beatles. It's an alright read so far…nothing out of this world exciting, but it is pretty cool to see the 'inside scoop' on some stories about the Fab Four. I think it will get better as I get more into it, as it's mainly focussing on their life growing up in Liverpool.

Back to the movie…the Bytowne Cinema is THE place to catch the independent films out there that aren't shown in the mega-halls of cinema. Anne-Marie, Krista, Amy and Vero showed up to settle down in their seats and take the movie in. Please keep in mind that I have no idea who this photographer is or what this movie is really going to be about. Perhaps my photographer mates in life - Uncle Greg and Gary, Joe, or even Mike may know who Edward Burtynsky is, but I sure do not.

The movie starts off with a camera panning industrial workstations in a warehouse in China. This goes on for 10 minutes. All silence. Then it pans outward to show the scale of what they just panned through - kilometres of workstations were workers sit and assemble items that we take for granted, like your thermostat. There is no talking, no laughing, no getting up for a break.

Fast forward to the villages containing 'e-waste' (which I must assume stands for electronic waste) where landfills of electronics are dumped and people scavenge them for salveable materials. We're talking landfills of transistors, and computer motherboards, and old telephones, all separated out to re-use. China takes our resources, forms something out of them, ships it back to us, we use it, then when it gets thrown out, it returns to China to be recycled for new items for us to use. Insane.

Let's fast forward to the Three Gorges Dam (which I never knew anything about until now). Taken from Wikipedia: "It will be the largest hydroelectric dam in the world, more than five times the size of the Hoover Dam. The reservoir began filling on June 1, 2003, and will occupy the present position of the scenic Three Gorges area, between the cities of Yichang, Hubei; and Fuling, Chongqing. Structural work was finished on May 20, 2006, nine months ahead of schedule. However, several generators still have to be installed and the dam is not expected to become fully operational until 2009."

Now, what's the reason for this dam? Energy! China has become this nation where they want to be the frontrunners in the industrialized world. Well, they may be achieving it, but at what cost? The cities that will be filled in with water are taken apart - brick by brick. Villagers are paid to take apart their own villages. That is insane. The imagery presented here was awesome, not so much a good thing, but awesome in the scope of what they are doing to their land.

The film is interspersed with lanscape photographs taken by the Mr. Burtynsky which create a serene picture of industrialized China. I can't remember if he mentioned in the movie or if I dreamt the word up, but it is like looking at 'Industrial Nature' when you look at his photographs. Very amazing work actually. Google up some images and you'll see what I mean. How there is a different form of nature nowadays…industrial nature.

Let's be clear on something…Edward Burtynsky isn't trying to relay a message on whether the industrialized nation is a good or bad thing. He just wants to demonstrate that it's there and that people can form their own opinions.

Thought provoking, surreal, and beautiful, this movie allows you time to think on the issues. There isn't much dialogue, the random interview here and there. It's more about the images portrayed.

It didn't take much convincing to pick up this sweet, sweet mitre saw. I had received a mitre saw last year at Christmas to help out with building a deck in the summer (which…didn't happen?) but then Mom found out that there was a safety recall on it. While cleaning out the garage last weekend, I figured I should finally return the saw considering it is the Christmas season once again.

After some cash put into my pocket, I checked the flyer and lo and behold, I had scored the big one. A SLIDING mitre saw for only a few bucks more than what I had received from the safety recall. Sweet! There were none in stock and it was pretty busy so I decided to return another day for the raincheck.

Last night Mike and I went into Canadian Tire to discover that there was one in stock, although it looks like it was already opened so I will spend a day on the weekend assembling it in case there is something wrong with it. It looks like a sweet, sweet utiilty. I am not sure how big it will be…the box is huge compared to the old one. Once assembled, I will determine if I need a rolling stand for it, or if it's small enough to just place on top of a flat surface and use for awhile.

In other news about last night, I had the great pleasure of being witness to Mike having a wet ass. I suppose that when I threw my bag on the seat earlier, my swimming trunks weren't as dry as I thought. We (alright, I) had a great laugh at his expense.

Before I even start this review, who the heck nicked my copy of Casino Royale from my office? I was reading it and POOF, it's gone. Perhaps I left it at Vero's? I can't get no satisfaction.

We all know my love for James Bond. He is the uber-spy. The megastar that has sweeped a nation. Men want to be him and women want to be WITH him. Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang himself.

My love of James Bond started when I watched Goldfinger with Regan when I was visiting him in Cornwall one summer. Everything about it bled awe. The music, the exotic locales, the quick wit of one Sir Sean Connery. Evil henchmen, megalamania run amuck…it was all there.

Over the years, I have watched all the movie as well as hosting Summer of Bond where every Wednesday, one of the 20 films aired at our house and even if I had other plans, the film still aired.

James Bond is epic. I could go on about the franchise, but I digress from the original subject. The film Casino Royale.

The character of James Bond was written by Ian Fleming and the first novel was Casino Royale, dealing with James Bond taking part of a baccarat player. Baccarat is a card game for those not in the know (as I was). Essentially, a Soviet agent of SMERSH, Le Chiffre, has lost some of the organization's money and has to win it back in a baccarat game that he hosts at the Casino Royale. SMERSH is like your modern day terrorist organization. In the films, SMERSH was renamed SPECTRE if that rings a bell. This is the organization that Ernst Blofeld was in charge of. You know…the bald dude with the cat.

So, essentially James Bond takes the assignment as he is a master baccarat player and then all around goodness happens within the novel. However, let's point out some clear distinctions between the novel and the film franchise that we all know and love. Keep in mind that I read the novel after watching 15 or so films.

• From what I know, Casino Royale is more of a classic spy novel - the spy is rugged, fights rough, not polished at all.
• James Bond isn't the womanizer we all know and love. He cares for the women he meets in this novel.
• He has no gadgets at his disposal.
• He doesn't really have any witty comments.

With that being said, I wasn't overly impressed the first time I read Casino Royale. However, I knew from the novel, that it set things in motion to what James Bond would become. Think of it being (gasp) a prequel. But let's be honest here…it was the first book in the 11 book series (well, at least from the pen of Fleming), so it can't be a prequel.

Fast forward to yesterday when I went with Krista and the Delion clan to see Casino Royale. It got off to a bad start as there were projector problems and it didn't start until 30 minutes later. I didn't mind…this was Bond we were talking about.

Wait. What am I saying? Was I excited to see this Bond film? YES! In a complete 180, I originally was very hesistant to see this film as I didn't like how Daniel Craig was a rough looking, BLOND James Bond. This was not the Bond we have grown up with. Very hesistant indeed.

Until the reviews started pouring in. 5 stars everywhere. I've never heard of a 5 star film. Although I believe that the review industry gives a little extra oomph to a review of a Bond film just for the sheer size within the movie industry.

So with the great reviews coming in, I realized that I should start getting pumped for this film, not dismayed! 30 minutes of waiting ended and the movie began.

The movie is different from the other Bond films that I've seen. It's rough. It's grimy. It's like watching an old school espionage film. At least in the beginning. Then the extraordinary locales make their appearance, and the inevitable action/chase scenes. Bravo on these. The first 45 minutes sets the stage for Bond to travel to the Casino Royale to take part in a poker match worth over $100M. I give the producers kudos for throwing poker into the mix instead of baccarat as the world has a poker fever for the past few years so they would understand the game.

Once they hit up Casino Royale, things get more into the vein of the actual novel (from what I can remember of it) and from the reviews I've read, it stays true to the novel. There's not many gadgets in the film either and the cheesiness has been virtually stripped from the film.

In the film, we see Bond starting out in the double-0 business. He isn't the cold, cool killer we know. It still bothers him to have to kill people. He has feelings, and you can see how he tries to hide those feelings behind his repartée. He makes mistakes along the way, he trips, he falls. Bond of old wouldn't do this! He doesn't depend on many gadgets other than this brute force. Also, he does a lot of running. I had a good laugh at how many different scenes have Bond running full tilt.

Right near the end, the projector messed up again…literally in the last five minutes. It came back on after a few minutes, but we got a refund on our tickets for the mishap.

So, what are my thoughts on the film?

• The style: A lot less polished than previous releases. Very gritty. It reminded me of the Bourne films. I see they were trying for this aspect…to get away from the old Bond films. Bravo, you have accomplished your wish EON Productions.
• The story: Hmm…Casino Royale, is not so much a prequel, but a reboot of the series. Sure, it follows Bond as he is starting out, but it's set in modern times - cell phones, laptops, post-9/11. So it's a little strange to watch it thinking it's supposed to be a prequel. But it's not. It's a reboot. Keep that in mind. Forget everything you know about Bond. It was Krista and Maren's first time watching a Bond film. I wonder if they enjoy the older ones?
• The characters: Well, all the supporting cast and villains were excellent. The question is, is Daniel Craig the man suited for the job? I am undecided as of yet. I don't hate him, and he does portray the roguish version of Bond very well. So I can't tell if it's the actor I have a problem with, or the rough and tumble, non-debonaire version of Bond that I don’t care for. People say that this Bond is the first Bond who is more true to the novels…but I am a fan of the films, as well as everyone else in the world! It's a tough gamble. Although I will point out that Daniel Craig is Maren's choice of Bond - clearly indicated by the thumbs up she gave me during the movie when he walks out of the water in his swim trunks. Groan.
  

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the film. It definitely had the classic Bond elements, just less of them. Definitely no gadgets, unless you count a needle going into your arm and relaying what's the status of your health back to HQ a gadget. No rocket packs here people. I highly recommend that you go see the film in the theatre. It's bombastic. It actually reminded me a lot of the Connerry era Bond films - the way it's paced, the cinematography.

A lot of people found the poker scenes to drag on, but I disagree. I enjoyed the playing back and forth between Bond and Le Chiffre.

We'll have to wait and see if this becomes a better than average Bond film in my book. I am very fond of the recent Brosnan era films so this one is a grand departure, but not necessarily a bad one.

Boy, I'm behind in a lot of things I want to say, hence, this may become a shorter than usual review.

Vero, Mike and I hit up the Civic Centre this Monday for some concert action. After taking forever to find the way to the floor (jump the boards!), we settled in near the soundbooth because we had a beer in hand so didn't want to get jostled around too much.

Mobile was awesome. I find they remind me of U2. The lead guitarist's amp blew up halfway through so there were a few songs without lead while they fixed the situation. I've just realized that Mobile is very lead guitar riff heavy in that there was a LOT missing from the song when just the rhythm was being played. Shout out to the band for singing "She Loves You, Yeah Yeah Yeah" at the end. Singer even got into the crowd for the last song.

While waiting in line for a beer, Mike decided to go check for other beer aisles and when I get to the counter he isn't there and they only serve one beer per person (which is insanely lame). I scour the area for Mike, but alas, he isn't there, so I have to leave with one beer only. I then find him and we go back into another line. He was chatting with a slew of people he met along the way that he knew. While in line at the next stand, Mike kept having some people tap him on the shoulder to move out of the way because there were a troop of people walking through. Then the guy in front of us says "Hey, it's Mobile!". Sure enough, there's Mobile passing us to go to the merchandise booth and Mike realizes that the band were the ones pushing him out of the way. "Dude, Mobile touched my shoulder!" he cries in schoolgirl glee. I know he won't admit it here, but I saw him carefully hang up his shirt on his bedroom wall that night.

Theory of a Deadman were in top shape as always. This is the third time we've seen them on this tour so they are winding down at this point. Comments on their performance:

• Whoa, what's up with the faux-hawk and black nail polish Tyler?
• Tyler was messing up two songs MAJORLY. Even the band were looking around saying "What the heck?"
• Props to a little cover of STP's Sex Type Thing. Matt, I thought of you at that moment.
• I enjoyed their battle of the sexes. Clearly there were more women in the room.

They played a few oldies that I hadn't heard on the current tour such as Last Song (which, incidentally they said used to be called Theory of a Deadman but then they decided to take that as their band's name. Cool!)

Then Three Days Grace came on with this giant video screen behind them. I wasn't overly impressed with the vid screen actually. Very lame. I've seen better. But the show they put on was intense. I believe the majority of the crowd was there to see this band (judging from the t-shirts). I enjoy their new album and I enjoyed it in a live element. There were a few songs that didn't have a great live feel, but I dug on the album, but that's what you get sometimes. I can see how some songs must have been written for the stage. Adam Gonthier pulled out a solo acoustic cover of Chris Isaak's Wicked Game. He couldn't really pull off the high notes so he let out the screamo version. His voice was getting pretty shot near the end of the show unfortunately. Can I also mention that they covered Hey Man, Nice Shot by Filter?! That's amazing! There were cover tunes all over the place tonight! I find it interesting to see old school alternative being covered and wonder if the new age of kids (the teens) even know what's being played?

Very impressed with the show. Too bad it's probably the last one we'll see for awhile in Ottawa. Nothing much else on the radar.

Random meetup afterwards happened when we stumbled upon Krista at McDonalds after the show. She, too was at the show but I never managed to locate her as she was sitting in the stands.

Last night was a gem of a night. Not only do I think I aced my mid-term in Org. Comm, but it only took me 30 minutes and the teacher decided to let us out after the test instead of teaching! Yeeha! Free night! PLUS, tonight I have an online lab which consists of me talking for an hour with my group via MSN Messenger. This is looking to be a fine education week.

But the cream of the crop came when I got home and was in good spirits and decided to tackle the problem which is Mike's computer. Mike's computer didn't have iTunes working, which meant he couldn't update his iPod.

After two grueling hours of trying out stuff and reading forums on the 'net, I really couldn't think of any other solutions other than a SYSTEM RESTORE. Now, if faithful readers don't know much about a system restore, basically (if you have it set up right…actually, I think it's defaulted to this setting) Windows XP takes snapshots of how your computer is setup…what programs are installed, what settings are in place and if you encounter a problem you can't fix, then you can do a system restore to a previous point where your computer was actually working.

I had given up all other options and decided to attempt a system restore around October 3, 2006. Unfortunately, that didn't work. So I tried October 5 and walked away from the computer to go watch some Grey's Anatomy.

Disappointed, I let Mike know that I couldn't fix the problem but then he comes back upstairs and says its working! I bluff and say I knew it was working all along, but then I tell him the truth that I had forgotten to check out the computer after the second system restore.

He may still be having trouble with the newest version of iTunes, but the old one seems to be fine. Perhaps he can give us an update on whether or not he got his iPod updated with the new Tenacious D album or not.

Oh yes…what's the point of this story?

I'm the man. ;-)

Speaking of the man, I'm applying to be on Deal or No Deal. Wouldn't it be wild if I actually made it?!

Sometimes, the Internet provides me with a good laugh…for example, THIS article.

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2237

Which outlines how Microsoft's Zune MP3 player isn't compatible with their new operating system - Windows Vista.

Now, in a few days, this point will be moo (mooo!), considering the flak Microsoft will get and they will hurry out with a fix…but still. It is hilarious.

Well, the highly anticipated Tenacious D album was released yesterday. I strolled into HMV, then strolled out when I realized what a fool I was for entering that store. They overprice everything! Down the hall at Music World, I found the album for $3 less.

As I walk to the car, I rip open the package and take a look at the liner notes which basically consist of screenshots of the new Tenacious D movie The Pick of Destiny. I sit down in the car and prepare myself for a full-out rock assault on my senses.

What am I given? Disappointment.

While there are some true gems on this album, it really doesn't compare to the original album. I suppose I was hyping myself up for a full-out D attack to the bones, but really, I ended up with a soundtrack, filled with a handful of tunes over 3 minutes, and the rest sound like little songs they use to fill in between scenes during the movie. I suppose I should have been prepared for this. However, usually a soundtrack has a decent tracklisting!

All in all, I think I may appreciate this album more once I see the movie, but for now, all I can say is that a few songs deserve the devil hand sign, and the rest are literally soundtrack filler. Man, I've never said there is a filler on an album before…but when a song is 60 seconds or less, it's filler.

My biggest disappointment will be Mike reading this and starting to cry.

I need to borrow a Nintendo cartridge of ICE HOCKEY. It will be returned. Drop me a line if you have one I can acquire.

Don’t ask me how I came up with this revelation this morning, but I did.

I remember Philipp asking me about 'dating' in the North American context. What is dating? What is going out? What is being with a person? I'm sure we'll go more in depth on this issue in his biography (as it is a fascinating subject), but I think I realized where my first introduction to dating stemmed from.

Archie comics!

It always confused me how Archie would be either with Betty or Veronica. It took me many years to realize that if you go out on a date with a person, that doesn't necessarily mean that you can't go date other people. That always threw me for a loop. "Archie, how the heck can you be with Veronica if you're with Betty?"

Ha ha, that is the most random thought I've had in awhile but I just wanted to point out that everything we all know about dating stems from actions of others…namely Archie and the gang (well, at least in my case.)

iplaying: I Want You (She's So Heavy) - The Beatles (Abbey Road)

Group presentation went well last night. It started off really boring with my part. Essentially the Professor assigned us to present a reading that everyone had already done some work on, so it was just a rehash of information they already knew. BORING. So 15 minutes later after my mouth was parched I stepped away and let the rest of the team handle things.

Until the other girl thought her part was over and left three slides to talk about! I had to cut in fast and just read off the slides. Woops!

All in all, it went over well. We had a lot of class discussion which is awesome. The worst is when the classroom discussion results in nothing and everyone is just sitting there staring.

So now, the only thing left to do in that course is to write a biography on my comrade, Philipp. That's right, yours truly is going to write about our friend and we'll see how it comes out. In my eyes, I would like to do him justice, but I also know that a lot of it will be based on the methods I used for the bio and whatnot. So, it may be fairly boring in some parts once I get into the details of how I interviewed the subject.

I realized late in the game that it's a long weekend for me. I do have a midterm to study for, but I think this weekend will be spent more on relaxing and winding down. There's some things I've been working hard on at work that are ending soon, and now the group presentation is done so there's nothing much else to do other than play guitar and sleep! Speaking about guitar, Troy has been diligent in my musical theory teachings and I am opening up doors to knowledge that I had always wondered about, but now it's there right in front of me. I am hoping that it will make me a better guitar player in the end, and a better songwriter. That's my goal for this winter…write a few good songs. AND finish off the songs that I've written in the past. I just read a quote from John Lennon who told George Harrison that the best way to write a song is to write it completely while you're in the moment, or else you've lost the moment and you may lose the song. I will have to remember that.

I've also realized that I find my blog entries have been revolving around thoughts in my head, whereas a portion of the original idea was to have a document of what I am doing day to day so I can go back and look upon it and say "Oh yeah, I remember doing that group presentation!" so I'm going to try and keep that in mind.

***Note to fellow bloggers. I just figured out why sometimes pictures don't upload correctly. If you have a picture that has a space in its title (like george orwell.jpg) then you have to get rid of the space or it doesn't parse well into the system.***

Philipp, Carrie and I will be at the Heart and Crown on Friday night. Join us!

White Poppies My Ass

Who's brilliant idea was it to have a white poppy? Read the news people, it's all around us. White poppies to promote peace, only around Remembrance Day!

Inform yourselves before reading on:


Here.
Or Here.


Jonathan Bartley, director of the religious think-tank Ekklesia says
“The red poppy represents the glorious dead,” he said. “The white poppy says that war isn’t glorious and you shouldn’t look back and see it through rose-tinted glasses.”

You know what? I'm not going to rant about symbols of peace. Hey, I'm all for peace.

What I am disturbed about is the blatant use of Remembrance Day as a launchpad for the Peace Pledge Union who is responsible for the white poppies. Strike One.

Using an already recognized symbol but just changing the colour? Strike Two.

Shoving it back in our faces and saying that we should be promoting peace, not remembering the dead? Strike Three.

Mr. Clark of the Legion couldn't have said it better (from this Globe and Mail article):

"Instead, said the Legion's Mr. Clark, peace activists should focus their efforts on Sept. 21, which is the UN-sanctioned International Day of Peace. But even then, he added, white poppies would infringe on the Legion's trademark. He suggested they use a different symbol such as a dove.

“Nov. 11 is the day that we honour our veterans. We need to make sure that that does not get confused, combined or anything else with another campaign,” he said."

Excellent points Mr. Clark. I stand behind your thought process. While they're at it, why don't they use the peace symbol attached the dove?

Remember, don’t get me wrong, I'm all for peace. But what this is just plain disrespectful.

Sometimes you cannot pass up a purchase. Like last night, I got a newsletter from the Sam Roberts Band and they were talking about the last Chemical City t-shirt released. Now, throughout the tour, I was disappointed with the various t-shirts offered. I rarely buy t-shirts anymore (price gouging of course), so it has to be really special for me to pick it up.

Well, something special came along. A wolf t-shirt! Coolness! At least, I think it's cool and that's what counts. There was also a 7" limited edition vinyl of Brother Down that I couldn't pass up. You never know, these things could be worth something someday.

Too bad the prices were in US dollars. I wonder what problems the band were encountering with MapleMusic to stop offering new items via the Canadian store?

You know you've hit the big leagues when you get the notice of yours truly from one of your comments on my site. BRB is probably dancing around praising the heavens that I finally acknowledge him. That guy has some wacko ideas and even worse, lives by them. While I don't knack his photography, I do knock his fashion sense.

All joking aside, BRB is the man for bringing up this piece of 80s goodness - Max Headroom. Max Headroom (as seen in this picture) is from a TV show in 1987 (but started in the UK in 1985...whoa!) which revolved around...man, I don't remember. All I know is that he was a rep for Coca-Cola.

In all honesty, I can remember watching this show, but cannot remember what the show was about. I was fairly young when it came out so higher level concepts probably alluded. By the way, if someone even thinks of making a crack about how higher level concepts probably allude me to this day, consider yourself on the blacklist.

I just remember thinking it was sooo coool to be a character inside a computer. Heck, I probably didn't even have a computer at that time so I thought that a computer could do this. Little did I know that the only things that I would see on a computer were the following:

C:\>

Wow. That's great. What the heck can I do with that?

Anyhow, I would like people to share their memoirs of Max Headroom in the comments section. Let's relive the moment where AI almost took over the world! Wait...is Max Headroom the precursor to the Matrix? I can envision a hilarious spoof right now.

Today's Lesson: If your heart desires something that requires a lot of money, don't hold yourself back, buy it!

I've had a vibration in my front right tire for quite awhile now and so I dropped it off to the dealer…six weeks ago? They said it was due to rust build up or something to that effect. Very strange. A few weeks later the vibration came back, and it was worse.

At the same time, Dad was mentioning how I should get my tires checked to see if I need a new set since the winter was coming up. I figure buying a set of new all-seasons will do me good in the winter months instead of buying a set of winter tires. Too all those reading this entry and who are gung ho on the winter tires, bravo. I applaud you. But they aren't for me.

Upon seeing the first snowfall of the year, I decide to drop the car off at Canadian Tire instead of the dealer in case they can find something else wrong with the vibration, and at the same time, check out the wear on my tires. After hoofing it home, I get a call an hour later saying one tire is bald, and the three others are pretty well done also. Also, they said that the bald tire was the reason of the vibrations.

Well. This all made sense in my head but I was a little wary of the bald tire causing the vibration (because the bald tire was on the opposite side). Regardless, I order four new all-seasons and pick up the car a few hours later.

Did it do the trick? For sure! No vibration. There may be a small one, but I'm not sure yet as it may just be the feel of the new tires on the vehicle. Must run it around the block a few times to find out if I'm imagining things or not.

Either way, the following observations were made:
- One would think that the dealer would have checked the wear on the tires and noticed they were pretty well gone.
- $564 later, I realize that there's some cash that could have been used towards something fun in my life. ;-) Alas, the car is my fun. It gets me around places. But don't hold yourselves back! Spend the money if you have it. This reminds me of the time where we were driving to Montreal and as soon as I cross the Ontario/Quebec border, cops come out of nowhere and flag me down to pull over. Ah crap. It was this giant speed trap where six cars pulled over. I knew I was busted so I waited there patiently. However, all the cops went to all the other cars lined up! I waited a few minutes and figured they must have flagged down the car next to me and not my own! I slowly pulled out (in case I was wrong and the cops were just taking their time getting to me) but no one motioned to me so I took off like a bat out of hell. That day, I bought a few clothing items, because in my eyes, I just won my own money back. Instead of a $150 speeding ticket, I had that in my pocket now for me to enjoy. Yeeha!
- Did you know ING Direct puts a limits on how many virtual bank accounts you may open? Doh! I loved the ability to just open a new account and fill it for random things I need in life - driver's plates, swimming pass, bearskin rugs...I am on this saving kick where if I know there will be something in the upcoming year (let's say...your property taxes!), then I just figure out how much it is per week and set up an Automatic Withdrawal system. It is working out supremely at this moment because I don't get a nasty surprise around my birthday ("Hey guess what! You owe us $100 for your license plates! Happy Birthday!"). Anyhow, I was about to start one for saving up for my next set of tires, but alas, it does not allow me to do so. :-(

iplaying: Bullet with Butterfly Wings [Live in Barrie 2000] - Smashing Pumpkins

This lunch hour brought me to, what I may affectionately now call, my favourite spot on Earth. The Royal Naval Association is a hidden gem down the hill on the bridge between Ottawa and Hull. Krista and Sara introduced me to this amazing spot. Let's just say I got some fish & chips, a beer, entered a 50/50 draw, left a tip - all for $10. I am impressed.

I'm an easy guy to please. The best way to please me is simplicity. I loved the ambiance of this joint. Walking in to a bar full of old codgers having a good laugh on a Friday afternoon…walls strewn with Naval accessories. I even shared a Navy story of my uncle's with my table which they enjoyed.

All in all, I doubt this will be the last time I end up at this place. You know what I really enjoyed though? You paid up front and then left the place when you pleased. No need to wait for the bill. Beauty. It's like…fast food service, but restaurant level fare. Mmm boy.

I have heard from various people that they did not hand out candy this year to the little ones. Let's list a few valid reasons for choosing not to do so:

• You have a kid that you have to bring around the block. Totally understandable. You can't be in two places at once. They need protection, plus you have to swindle a few extra treats out of the Scrooges.
• Your dog has just died. Totally understandable.
• You live in an apartment building. Totally understandable. It's not like you're going to camp out in the lobby and give out candy to the kids. But if you choose to do that, bravo! You're a star!
• You're living day-to-day on funds. Totally understandable.
• Your religion forbids it. Totally understandable. Don't even try to pawn off one of those 'personal religions' in your defense.

Now for those of you rotten no-good adults who have chosen not to give out candy because:

• You didn't want to be bothered.
• You feel there's enough houses on the block that you don't need to be one. The kids will get their own candy.
• You're cheap.
• Some other lame reason that I haven't thought about here.

Here's my message to you Scrooges. Yeah, I know, Palmer shouldn't have an opinion and he should remain politically correct. Well not today.

If you choose to not give out candy, you should be ashamed. We ALL know that we have all enjoyed a good Trick-or-treating event when we were younger (unless religion prevented it…are there any that boycott Hallowe'en? Perhaps the Jehovah's Witnesses.) and that you should pay your dues. It's your duty as an adult who lives in their own domain. Now, for those who still live with their parents, heck, let your parents hand out the candy. It ain't your house.

Honestly, you are the lowest of the low, the scum of the Earth for not handing out candy. I think that if you decide not to hand out candy just because you can't be bothered, then your children should pay the price and when every other kid on the block is getting some candy, you will have to explain to your kids that they cannot because you are a Scrooge. Or, at least, you were a Scrooge ONCE in your life because after you read Palmer's Rant you realized that you will never make this mistake again and will hand out candy. In that case, everyone can make a mistake ONCE, and their children shouldn't have to pay for your crimes. But if you so much as do this mistake TWICE, your child is getting worms to chew on at Hallowe'en.

This goes out to those who decided not to give out candy for lame-ass reasons. I know you're out there because you've told me in person. I hope the look on my face at the time haunts you.

If any of you has a lame-ass reason that wasn't listed here and you wish to ask me if it's a good enough reason not to hand out candy, please feel free to send it to me and I will be judge as to whether or not you should be shamed or not.

Kids With No Costumes - 8 PM rolls around and the kids aren't coming as frequent. Then the doorbell rings and there are seven teenage boys with shopping bags asking for candy. No costumes! What's the protocol on this? Do I give them candy? Let me tell you, with seven teenage boys at my door, I sure as hell was going to give them candy or fear the aftermath of what would happen to my car's tires. There was even one guy with no bag! I made a comment and he asked if I had a bag that I could spare. I politely declined and whispered "Moron".

Buying Candy - It's pretty hard to find Reese Peanut Butter Cups at 5:30 on the night of Hallowe'en. But I managed to find some at Zellers. However, it was $10 for a bag of 90! I picked up two bags with the notion that I would return the other bag. This is a smart thing to do people! It's like the keg party you're at that has a spare in the back room JUST IN CASE. Just don't let some thirsty partier crack the last keg before the others are finished, or you're stuck there all weekend drinking it - or in this case, eating Reese Peanut Butter Cups. Anyhow, keep your receipt to avoid these hangups. For mental note's sake for next year when I'm reading this entry, I didn't get through a bag of 90 Reese Peanut Butter Cups. I probably used 70, along with Mike's Rockets.

Peanut Allergies - The big thing nowadays is not to give candy with peanuts in it in case of allergies. Well, some may question my purchase of the Peanut Butter Cups but the way I see it is that it's clearly labeled so if a kid can't eat it, at least he has all that other peanut free candy that they got from the neighbourhood. We received some great compliments on the choice of the Peanut Butter Cups. Plus, if we get stuck with candy afterwards, it's easy to swallow 20 of those in a day. Ugh.

Throwing Eggs - Let the following life fact echo in everyone's head and stay there for eternity. "If thou thinkest an egg thrown at your buddy's house is funny, you must also be prepared to find it funny when he retaliateth by dumping the leaves from his yard in front of your door."

Ringing the Bell - Ah ha, I bet you thought I was talking about the kids at Hallowe'en ringing the bell? Nope. This is about ringing the bell on the public bus. Now, I consider myself a seasoned rider of the public transit system so I will give this person the benefit of the doubt. Anyhow, as I sat on the bus this morning, the lady next to me asks if I may reach up and ring the bell so that the bus driver knows to stop at the next stop. Well, the next stop is the building I work at…and where 90% of the bus unloads in the morning. Being a seasoned rider, I realize this is pointless as we all know that in the morning, the driver KNOWS to make the stop there. It's just a given. It would be different if it's an odd stop along the way. So here is my list of 'When There is No Need to Ring the Bell.":

• When you are getting to the end of the line. The driver knows enough to stop there.
• You don't have to ring the bell if there is a major stop coming up. Granted, you would have to know this beforehand after many trips on the bus. A fine example is the mall. Someone is 99% guaranteed to get on or off at this stop. So there is no need to ring the bell.
• There is no third option.

So there you have it. Palmer's Thoughts for the past 24 hours. Oh, plus I love cable for the sole fact that I can watch the Rick Mercer Report. That guy is freakin' hilarious.