Palmer's World

If anyone is interested in attending the following shows, please let me know, not via comments please.

Arcade Fire - Montreal -
05/12 Montreal, Quebec - Arena Maurice Richard (On-Sale 3/2)
05/13 Montreal, Quebec - Arena Maurice Richard (On-Sale 3/2)
Unknown Ticket Price.

I would be going on the May 12 concert as I have a BB King concert to go to the next day.

Roger Waters - Ottawa
June 4 - Tickets are expected to go on sale March 5. Could be earlier.

Like I said, let me know if you want in.

After speaking to my mother, and consulting my handy dandy copy of Wealthy Barber (Uhmm….Maren? I still have your copy if you're looking for it…) I've realized that there are WAY too many options to what I should be doing with my money.

Do you all feel this way, particularly around the crunch time which is RSP season? Or as I like to call it...the ARRRRR(matey)SP season?

Here's a simple dilemma - Do I take my refund of…let's say $1,000 and pay off some debt that is accumulating interest, or do I maximize my RRSP contributions by borrowing $1,500 and slapping it all into an RRSP so then I get no cash in hand, but a whole lot in the RRSP.

The Wealthy Barber looks at how it's smarter to put money into an RRSP NOW rather than later as cumulative interest is your friend. If I wait a year, I've probably wasted tons of money. So there's the pro on that scale. The message: Put into an RRSP now!

However, you have to admit that the more immediate urgency of paying off immediate debt looks pretty tempting also. The message: Get rid of that crawling interest! Live a debt free (well, almost debt free for those who are paying friendship tax to my parents for allowing me to be your friend) life!

Let's also swing over to another thought process which I never really took much interest in until yesterday while talking to Mom - paying down the principle (principal?) on your mortgage.

If you have mortgage, you have to admit that it's probably the largest pot of money you ever will borrow and the interest is sky-high when you think about it. The rates are not, but the interest you are paying is. Uh, when I say the interest rate is not high, I am talking to the people outside of the early 80s.

So, common sense would dictate that if you have a chance to put money down on your principle, you should! Everyone's mortgage is different - mine indicates that I am allowed to put money down on the principle as long as it doesn't break 20% annually. I don't think there is any fear in reaching 20% of my mortgage anytime soon!

It would be interesting to try and figure out which is better:
A) Putting 'x' amount of dollars into an RRSP with…let's say 10% interest.
Or
B) Putting the same 'x amount of dollars onto the principle of your mortgage which is at 4%.

Man, I need a financial guru to crunch those numbers. Off the top of my head, I would assume it's better to put the cash into the RRSP because it has the higher interest. But it doesn't take into account the sheer vastness of interest being generated by the interest.

So, the question I pose to all of you is this - what's your favourite money saving tip that you adhere to? I am going to bank my bet on RSPs as they are shoved down our throat every year. That's not a bad thing, but has anyone favoured alternative methods to saving, like paying down your mortgage? Is it the better route?

Let's talk about the almighty dollar here.

By the way, the new Nine Inch Nails DVD - Beside You In Time is out today. Pick it up. Matt and I went to see the With Teeth tour a few years back in Montreal and it blew my mind. Literally. I have a bump now in behind my head.

Here's to my main man, Jack Nicholson, who last night was sporting a shaved head at the Oscars. Man, I hope that is for an upcoming role because it didn't suit him too much. I just like seeing Jack at the Oscars as he is basically synonymous with them.

The reason I'm bringing up the Oscars right now is because I'm waiting for the results of Louise's Oscar pool. Last year, I surprisingly won the pool so I'm hoping my 10/24 wins will fetch me the prize again this year. However, I didn't put much thought into it so I wonder if I could have done better. For example, I picked Borat as the best adapted screenplay. Well, that was dumb. Was it because I had some hope that Sascha Baron Cohen would randomly appear accepting an Oscar? Definitely. ;-)

All in all, I banked on Pan's Labyrinth even before seeing it. Then Vero and I saw it last week and I had some doubts as to it winning a slew of Oscar's. In the end, it did nab quite a few.

So who knows if I will win the pool this year...10/24 seems like a bad score, but when you're playing against others, it may very well be the highest one.

*update* Wow, I forgot to mention Martin Scorsece's win! How could I forget? In fact, how could it have taken this many years for Scorsece to win an Oscar? For those of you not in the know, let's take a look at some of his finer films (in my opinion):

• Taxi Driver
• The Last Waltz!!!
• Raging Bull
• Goodfellas
• Cape Fear
• Casino
• Gangs of New York

Bravo Mr. Scorsece.

On separate occasions, both Maren and Sara indicated that I would love this film called Pan's Labyrinth. I decided to approach it like I did The Blair Witch Project - know nothing about the film upon entering the theater and hopefully be blown away by its sheer awesomeness.

Little did Vero or I know, it was a Spanish film with subtitles! That threw me for a loop. I really didn't know anything about this film! The film is by Director Guillermo del Toro.

Taken from Wikipedia:

The story cuts to post-Civil War Spain in 1944, after Francisco Franco has come into power. Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), a young girl often absorbed in fairy tales, travels with her pregnant mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) to meet Captain Vidal (Sergi López), Ofelia's new stepfather. Vidal is a brutal fascist devotee stationed at a countryside mill, where he has been assigned to seek out and eliminate a rogue Republican militia.

So the film revolves around this story of how Captain Vidal is trying to deal with the guerrilla warriors. This, on its own, is a decent story, but nothing earth-shattering about it.

What REALLY sets the film above the bar is how they incorporate a second storyline where Ofelia meets a fairy which leads her through a labyrinth to meet a faun. For those who are not in the fantasy knowledge realm, a faun is a half man, half goat creature.

In meeting this faun, he reveals that Ofelia is actually a reincarnated Princess and she must complete three tasks to allow her to open the portal back to the underworld where her father, the King, is waiting for her after all this time.

The imagery from her little quests around the area blew me away. I am attaching a picture of one of the creatures, the Pale Man, who has his eyes in his hands. This moment in the movie was creepy, fantastical and just jaw-dropping. It actually reminded me of the colours and elements used in films like The Cell, or the imagery used in Titus. Titus, man, that is a great film. Watch it, it's the darkest Shakespeare there ever was.

I have read that Pan's Labyrinth has received worldwide recognition, and even the movie review website Rotten Tomatoes has a 96% rating for it.

While I did enjoy the movie, I did feel that I would rather have seen a lot more fantasy elements to it. Vero noted that the fantasy elements, although they are probably the coolest scenes we have seen, only accounted for 1/4 of the film. So most of the time I was just waiting for another fantasy scene to come into the film.

I am unsure if I fell victim to 'the hype' as we all do when people proclaim 'best movie ever!!!' as I tend to do. It somehow increases expectations. I can't say that this film blew me away...but I think if the entire film was just the fantasy sequences, then most definitely.

You know what? I think I have to see it again. I did enjoy the war story that went along with it. Captain Vidal was a fearsome man and the violence was pretty crazy in some scenes so it really made you hate the man. They did a good job portraying him as a man to be feared.

All in all, I would say that the fantasy scenes were worth the price of admission alone. Guillermo del Toro is able to create a fantastical realm which I would hope we see more of in the future.

Last night Mike and I watched an excellent flick called Suicide Kings. An older movie (if 1997 can be considered old) which stars Christopher Walken, Denis Leary, and that dude from Six Feet Under. The crazy brother guy. You know who I'm talking about.

Anyhow, the story revolves around Christopher Walken being a retired mobster (shocking, I know) and four guys kidnap him so they can use him to foot the bill for a ransom of $2 million bones to get back a sister. But then they also have Denis Leary (who is Christopher Walken's driver) hunting down his chief which is hilarious on its own. I love Denis Leary. It makes me miss his old cop show.

Anyhow, the movie was amusing seeing that Christopher Walken is always a good time. Here he is acting calm while being kidnapped and trying to reason with these four guys. There are some classic funny moments in the film (the Fish Boots) and overall, I would recommend this film to anyone who enjoys an easy going flick.

iplaying: Under My Senses - Matt Mays ...When The Angels Make Contact

On Sunday amongst our adventures, we ended up at a Fitness Equipment clearance sale where I wanted to see if I could find a sit-up bench...you know, the ones that inclines?

I saw one on sale from 89.99 to 69.99. I thought that this is a little steep considering it is just a board on an incline. Heck, I could probably fashion one myself!

However, when we hit up Wal-Mart for frames, Mike found the EXACT SAME MODEL for $40! I couldn't believe my luck!

I also couldn't believe the incredible markup in the Fitness Equipment store of the same exact item. Is this what businesses do? Just go down to Wal-Mart and buy some wares and sell it to us for a higher price?

If anything, I would have thought the Fitness Equipment store would have had better merchandise compared to Wal-Mart.

Anyhow, I am the proud new owner of a sit-up bench. Vero and I assembled it last night and if what we went through is any indication of how life will be when we are old and gray assembling items, I think I'll have to let her assemble them herself. ;-)

• When you're excited to go visit your cousin downtown for a good night out, don't be a fool and look at the parking signs quickly. Turns out that I ended up with a parking ticket because I parked BETWEEN two good parking spots. The sign on the left said good parking, the sign on the right said good parking, but I failed to see the arrows pointing away from the spot where I parked - right in the middle of them. Interesting to see that they have an early payment bonus - only $45! Wow, thanks Ottawa
• Tonight I get to see Adrianna who is the gracious soul who allowed me to stay with her in Dublin a few years. Adrianna is quite the character and cannot be described in words. She must be experienced in real-time.
• Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame is coming to Ottawa in June!!! He is recreating The Dark Side of the Moon. This will probably be the closest I ever get to seeing Pink Floyd live (but I have a feeling they will tour once again! I have faith!) so I know that Mike, Joe and I (although I haven't confirmed with Joe) will be the first ones interested in hitting this up! Let me know if you're interested!
• Nine Inch Nails have this amazing, AMAZING marketing campaign going on for their new album Year Zero. So far there have been phone numbers found on tour t-shirts to call in and hear clips of the album, USB keys left in bathrooms of the venues they play during their European tour which contain a track from the new album. Let's take a look at the track in particular - A Violent Heart which has some crazy static at the end of the file which if you throw into a spectography software analyzer comes up with a picture of a hand! That is crazy stuff! Talk about listening to a song backwards to hear the Devil speaking! There are also websites popping up all around us giving us details of the apocalyptic future that Year Zero is trying to portray. All in all, I am pumped at this marketing technique. I think the USB Flash keys left in bathrooms give me the most goose bumps. Imagine just stumbling onto something that you think is nothing and it turns out to be a new song that you've never heard?
• This weekend will actually bring me out to see Winterlude. Should be a good time. Give me a ring if you feel like going out on Saturday to see the festivities.
• A new Pumpkins demo was leaked on Valentine's Day which was amazing. It's always good to hear some new songs from the band. This song was from their post-Adore era demos.
  

Read this. Please do. It is a gem of an article. Click here.

ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME?! This is the most insane piece of garbage article I have ever read in my life. Comparing Daylight Savings Time to the Y2K Bug?

Oh, memories of Y2K…where airplanes would fall out of the sky and robots would take over the world. But that's nothing compared to programming your VCR to tape Grey's Anatomy and (gasp) IT DOESN'T TAPE! ARGH!!! WHY HAS THE WORLD FORSAKEN ME?!

Here's my favourite quote of the article:

"If you have bought a device that is not real-time connected to a centralized system, then you have to change it manually for sure," said Mehadi Sayed, manager for information technology training at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.

Thank you Mr. Sayed. Tell me, did you gain that amazing insight from a higher education? Good thing he told me. I've been wondering why the heck my wristwatch was always an hour behind. Now I realize that it's not connected to a centralized system! THAT'S NEWS TO ME! What are we living in...the dark ages?! If anything, wristwatch makers should include this in the manual. How was I supposed to know I can manually change it?

On a related note, may I just point out that Germany is way ahead of the times and they have radio-controlled clocks. That's right, there is a frequency which broadcasts the time and if the time suddenly changes, radio-controlled clocks across the country change accordingly. If anything, this was THE life-defining experience I had in Europe. It wasn't the Eiffel Tower that got me hooked, it was the technology Germany had. Carrie and Philipp are laughing uncontrolably right now as they love the fact that I was so amazed with this technology.

Let's read the title of the article for a minute: "Gadget lovers face worst crisis since Y2K"

Well, that's not true at all. The worst crisis since Y2K is the fact that as soon as you buy a piece of technology, it is obsolete. What we need to have are more items that are programmable through EEPROM (hello Algonquin College education!). Most upgrades to a model of technology are simple ones that can be patched electronically. Take my DVD player for example. The good old RV-32 from Panasonic couldn't read a lot of burnt discs. Well, I just went out and bought the RV-33, there would be no problem, would there? Of course not! But I did a little research and found a disc I could burn that would update the firmware (read: the software on the inside) which would allow for the discs to be read. Lo and behold, I did the deed and it worked ever since. That's how technology needs to work people. Granted, this won't happen on some technology, but I bet it would on most.

Anyhow, when I first clicked on this article I was thinking "Whoa, what the heck is going to happen? Y2K was huge." Then I realized that I'm going to have to change my clock.

To news reporters everywhere, a word of advice. Stop this crap. I feel like this is something I would have read off The Onion.

'Nuff Said.

I forgot this random thought I had the other day while walking through the Rideau Centre.

So, I'm walking along and then notice that La Senza is all boarded up and has a sign saying "Closed for Renovations. Open in March 2007."

Now...I don't know much about this store, but something tells me that Valentine's Day is definitely not one of the days you want to miss if you are catering to the lingerie buying public. I would hazard a guess that it's in the Top 3 Shopping Events of the year (next to Christmas and the off-chance that you got invited to Hugh's palace for his Midsummer Night's Dream night. Sigh...a man may dream.)

Business-wise...STUPID! What a time to shut down! If anything, close down in January, not February!

Hallmark Holiday, Singles Awareness Day (check out the Wikipedia entry on SAD here. It is an excellent read!), the Lover's Day.

All these words are synonomous with Saint Valentine's Day.

Let's take a look at some history (could be completely false coming from Wikipedia, but who cares? It's so convenient!)

The day is most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of "valentines". Modern Valentine symbols include the heart-shaped outline and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten notes have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards.

In the second half of the 20th century, the practice of exchanging cards was extended to all manners of gifts in the United States, usually from a man to a woman. Such gifts typically include roses and chocolates. In the 1980s, the diamond industry began to promote Valentine's Day as an occasion for giving jewelry.

Now, that's interesting. Just think…we should go old school from now on and write a letter to our loved ones. I'm jumping on this like it is 1899!

Personally, I think the whole concept of buying anything on Valentine's Day is insane. Flowers and assorted items are jacked up in price. Do yourself a favour. Forget the flowers on February 14 and write a poem. Your Valentine du jour will melt. Here's some sample poetry for you to use:


Granted, you have to replace the last word with the person you are writing about and then make sure the previous line rhymes with the person. It's simple really. It's like math. If there is an Ethel out there, I am sure she is digging that poem right about now. Dang, I am good.

So let this be a reality check for all those out there. Do something creative tomorrow. Forget about going out to dinner, forget the gifts bought with money, forget whispering sweet nothings (that won me a point in the Them and Us board game the other week!). Just say "I dig ya babe." and all should be good in the world.

If you're with a woman who disagrees with anything I have just written, then perhaps you should really start thinking about your future with that woman. I mean…really.

On this Valentine's Day, if there are any single people out there reading this, may I recommend you organize your own 'singles' outing. I used to organize these a few years back and they were sweet.

Also on this February 14, if you feel like complaining about men in general, I highly recommend you get in touch with Dish, as she is the leader of the Ottawa Chapter of Singles Awareness Day. She even has buttons.

Sunday afternoon brought me to the ScotiaBank Place for the Timbits Jamboree where 7000 kids attended to play hockey on the Senators ice.

Luckily I only had to get there in the late afternoon so I missed the madness which was 7000 kids. Ryley was hitting the ice around 5:00 so I settled into Section 102 with Janice and company and talked for awhile.

It was pretty amazing to be sitting right next to the ice as opposed to the 300 level. It was surreal to be in there with little to no crowd. At one point, there were just 10 of us in the entire building. It took away from the magic which is a hockey rink when grand events are happening (like two NHL teams duking it out). It just seemed...like a hockey rink! Strange I must say.

Ryley was excellent on the ice and it brought up thoughts as to whether or not I'll ever get my kid into hockey as I can't skate at all, let alone know much about hockey. Perhaps I'll get my kid to be a pro guitar player. That's where the big bucks lie!

iplaying: Kiss on the Mouth - Our Lady Peace (A Decade)

After witnessing the horror which was Caravan of Courage I returned home to a pleasant treat. Mike and Carolyn were about to sit down and watch The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

This is a really beautiful film if you think about it terms of when it came out. Early 70s is when the prototype to your favourite slasher films appeared on the big screen with Leatherface taking a piece of flesh from every character in the movie.

The movie is crazy just for the sheer brutality of how Leatherface just comes at you with this sledgehammer and them BLAMO! You're down for the count.

My particular fave scenes are when he's running through the woods with the chainsaw. There's nothing worse than a chainsaw-wielding maniac running after you at night through the woods.

Also, the twist near the end just makes the film even more enjoyable.

I highly recommend this film to everyone who is a horror buff. Just think about it - there would be no Freddy, Jason or Mike Myers if there wasn't Leatherface.

iplaying: Breath - Breaking Benjamin (Phobia)

Hey, Star Wars is cool and all, but is the Ewok movie just as good?

Hmm...well if you like to watch a movie where Ewoks just walk around and try and recreate the Fellowship of the Ring, then yes.

Otherwise, LAME!

Thanks to Eric for allowing me to spend some time watching this with him.

Ah Winterlude…where the ice has formed and fellow return to the Nation's Capital to take part in festivities.

As well as pay a visit to our favourite establishment - Darcy McGee's.

Friday night brought me to Darcy McGee's along with Vero, my cousin Rick, his wife Tracey and Tracey's sister and in-laws. After we settled into a table (not too far away from where we sat a few years ago), the pitchers started coming along like the train rolling across the tracks and soon enough there were absurd talks of Moustache Contests and Midget Throwing.

I enjoy the annual events such as these. Rick and Tracey come up every year for Winterlude and most assuredly are found at Darcy's on a Friday night, as it is stumbling distance from the Chateau Laurier.

I have yet to take a look at the other Winterlude activities this year (as the beer hit me hard on the Saturday morning) so I am hoping to check out the ice sculptures next weekend when Mike's parents come into town. Speaking of which, this is a great time to finally get my Star Wars posters to hang up in the house. We didn't have room to bring them down (read: I forgot them back home) at Christmas. I'm toying with the idea of where to hang them up. Vero suggests the dark, dark basement. I'm thinking somewhere more prominent, like the bathroom. ;-)

On Friday I saw this picture of the mayor in the paper and I thought "Now where have I seen that individual before?"

Uh-oh.

iplaying: Open Your Eyes - Snow Patrol (Eyes Open)

Huh, for some reason the pictures won't upload lately. Makes for bland entries.

Last night Krista and I used up our free movie passes from our screening of Casino Royale (which could be compared to a person going temporarily insane from all the screen flickering and projector problems) to go see Smokin' Aces. For some reason, Krista wasn't too keen on hitting up a Palmer-type flick in the form of Pan's Labyrinth. Actually, I don't know anything about that movie but Maren suggested I would enjoy it so it's on my list.

After a tasty treat at Montana's in the form of a hunk of cow on a bun (along with a slice of ham! Yummers!) and some Scene It trivia cards (which I kicked ass in of course...alright, perhaps it's a tie?), we headed to the South Keys Cinema to catch the previews and settle in for a ride.

Smokin' Aces has a slew of actors we all know and love so that's always a bonus. The story revolves around a hit out on a Buddy 'Aces' Israel who is rumoured to make a deal with the FBI to divulge a slew of information on the Italian mob as he is affiliated with them. This puts out a $1M bounty on his head and a slew of bounty hunters enter the picture which is hilarious on its own because of the sheer dynamics that occur with all these different bounty hunters converging. Take a little FBI action at the same time and you have a rip-roaring time.

The action and the interaction with the characters were spot on. All the characters were interesting...and you know what makes them interesting? They follow the Bond villain theory, where if you give a character one distinguishing feature, people will remember them. Take Oddjob from Goldfinger with his slicer-dicer hat. So it was entertaining to see these oddball bounty hunters all over the place.

Two thumbs up. The plot...nothing too overly crazy about it, but that's what's beautiful about this movie. It's about the characters and the interaction.

I just read a fascinating commentary by Steve Jobs (of Apple fame) speaking out against the critics of their company's Digital Rights Management encoding - FairPlay. Click here to read.

Everyone is calling for Apple to let them in on the secret of their FairPlay technology so they can make MP3 players that can handle iTunes-purchased songs. In a nutshell, Apple encodes their purchased music with some encryption so you can't play it on other MP3 players (other than the iPod) as well as not being able to play it outside of the iTunes software.

What does this mean to the average consumer? Well, it means that in 5 years time if I don't use my iPod, I'll have to listen to my purchased music on the iTunes software on my computer. What if I don't want to use iTunes? Tough noogie. I'm screwed. It's like saying that I can purchase a CD but only play it on a Panasonic brand CD player.

I, for one, think DRM technology is awful. Some CD companies are encoding their CDs with DRM technology to prevent the copying of their albums into any digital format. Let's take the new Trews album Den of Thieves. Mike bought this album outright but cannot copy the songs to his iPod. Hey, he bought the damn thing, he should be able to do what the heck he wants with it (other than spread it on the Internet en masse). So that's what I have against DRM. It screws over the actual people purchasing the CDs.

"Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it? The simplest answer is because DRMs haven’t worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy. Though the big four music companies require that all their music sold online be protected with DRMs, these same music companies continue to sell billions of CDs a year which contain completely unprotected music. That’s right! No DRM system was ever developed for the CD, so all the music distributed on CDs can be easily uploaded to the Internet, then (illegally) downloaded and played on any computer or player."

Steve Jobs brings up…in my opinion…the best example as to why DRM doesn't work. Running some rough numbers, he estimates 3% of a person's music collection (on an iPod) is made up of digitally purchased songs. So basically, the music industries are allowing 97% of their music to be sold without any protection at all. Granted, this is in a perfect scenario where people's iPods are full of stolen music to begin with.

All in all, I think the music industries have to just give in to the fact that their music will be pirated. End of story. There's no winning the battle. But at the very least, they can cater to the persons who actually purchase their music and make an enjoyable experience out of it. There are a few iTunes only tracks which I would like to purchase but have not done so due to the fact that I do not want to be painted into a corner. Sure, there are some software cracks out there that will strip the DRM off of the tune, but that's not the point. I want to say "Hey, I paid some cash for this, and I want to do what I want with it. That's how it's been for all time, let's keep it that way."

Bravo to Steve for pointing out the obvious. Music industries take note. You are losing the battle. Hightail it out of here and remove DRM from all music and the world will be a better place.

Benoit writes:

So I just got back from my Media Ethics mid-term. I think I did decent to my usual standards (anything over 75% is alright with me) but lately I'm starting to change how I feel about education in general.

When I was younger I wanted to just get by the course. Hey, I wanted a decent mark also, but I lived my life according to scoring well on an exam.

But what about the knowledge gained? I don't know...I have to admit that sometimes I didn't really care about the knowledge. Or, at the very least, I didn't even think about it. I just went to class, heard what the professor had to say and then studied for the test.

Tonight I hit upon a question about a Supreme Court case that I didn't have a good grasp on. In the end, I probably bombed the question, but I'm not really concerned with the actual mark. I am concerned that I don't have a grasp on the subject matter - in this case, the outcome of the Supreme Court case I was reading. Heck, maybe my legalese is pretty well non-existent so it's hard to understand it all after reading 20 pages.

So, there you have it. I have realized that I have finally become a student who wishes to absorb knowledge. In my view, I don't believe sending teenagers to school is necessarily the best idea. I'm not saying that I didn't retain what I learned in college. I did. Maybe not the specifics (Hey, how do I do a FOR Loop in C++ programming language again? Hmm...off the top of my head I believe it's (for i=0;i<10;i++), hey, I actually think that's right! I'll have to check that out later. I actually just impressed myself!), but I have a greater appreciation for education than I did 10 years ago. I believe this is the secret Rick has discovered as he pretty well hasn't left the school life and I doubt he ever will. One word Mr. MacLeod - Professor.

Check out this article from NME:

Guitarists attempt to break rock record

Record-breaking bid set for London

London department store Harrods is hosting a bid to break an unusual rock record.

The store will attempt to beat the world record for the most guitarists playing one song simultaneously.

Harrods, based in Knighstbridge, hopes to get 2,000 guitarists to perform Deep Purple's 'Smoke On The Water' at 8am on February 18.

The existing record was set in Vancouver in 1994, where 1,322 guitarists took part.

The attempt is part of the 'Harrods Rocks' season, which runs from February 1 to March 3, and participants in the attempt will receive complimentary earplugs and a free T-shirt and plectrum.

For more information, and to register to take part, visit harrods.com.

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This is amazing! I want to find out more about the Vancouver world record! I wish I could take part in this world record setting. So cool! An excellent song choice also!

Bonus! I just won a few EBay items (and hopefully one more coming this morning) in the form of some old King's Quest games.

My love for the King's Quest series (as well as the other Sierra games) knows no bounds. When I was younger, I never owned any of the actual games, just the copies (*gasp*).

I have a found memory of going to the Dixie Mall with the family one summer and stumbling across Police Quest 2. I think I still have the original receipt with it! I wonder how much I paid for it...

I remember countless hours of Marc and I trying to beat Police Quest. One of us would move the guy around with the joystick and the other would type. That was heavy teamwork back in the day.

I just stumbled upon an application called DosBox which emulates the Dos environment. I then installed some old games like Quest for Glory and Leisure Suit Larry and am having the time of my life playing them so far. Some people may think it's odd that I get a kick out of these old school games, but I love them. It brings back my childhood. When I say countless hours were spent on them, I really do mean countless hours. I remember one summer when we had the Tandy 1000, every morning I would get up and beat King's Quest because it was such a fast game to beat once you knew how to do everything. I think I timed it so I could go eat lunch after I completed it. I also remember doing the same with Ninja Gaiden II. MAN, I could beat that game with my eyes closed. I tried playing it last year and I was pretty well awful in the game playing department. However, I know that the skill is within me somewhere.

Anyhow, I've been looking into the old Sierra games and what they go for on EBay for awhile now and picked these two up for a steal. Heck, one of them even runs off of 5 1/4" discs! I wouldn't even be able to play them if I wanted to! In reality, if I ever want to play them, I'll just download them off the Internet, but I am glad to have a piece of history coming my way. Perhaps I'll build a shelf for the games...

In the haze which is the morning hour when I awake from my slumber, there is little light in my room. To begin with, there is only a bedside lamp shedding rays of illumination towards the far corners of my room. Most of the time, I cannot even see the corner of my room. One day, it was sunny out and I rose the blinds to find that a family of geese had settled into the corner of my room! Considering I haven't noticed them before, I just let them be and threw them some of Mike's food items from the fridge.

So, one would hypothesize that the solution to my dilemna would be to invest in a new lamp. That's an excellent point but one that I am always forgetting to do.

The flaw in my dimly lit room is when I grab stuff in the morning, sometimes I find...they do not match.

For example, ONCE AGAIN, I have a blue sock on this morning next to a black sock. I don't even know how I have come to inherit a black sock as my system is a fine one - Buy white, buy black. Then, in the morning, all you have to do is reach in and pull out the right shade of sock. I don't care if a sock doesn't match. It's not like they have fancy designs on them.

But somewhere along the trek which is life, I have inherited a blue sock and I swear it ends up on my foot every few weeks and I swear each time to throw it in the trash. But by the time slumber comes henceforth (10 Palmer points if you can identify where that line comes from), I forget that I have the blue sock on when I throw it into the hamper.

Palmer's life is fraught full of little bits of irritation. In the grand scheme of life, is it worse than...an agent of SPECTRE after me? Heavens no! But I do live in fear that someone will realize I have two different socks on.

At least it's not as bad as one day at work I noticed some guy had two different shoes on. That made my day.

iplaying: Heartbreaker - Led Zeppelin (Led Zeppelin III)

Saturday night brought me to Mike and Melissa's place after a hard day of studying for Media Ethics. Ugh. I still don't have Section 1 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms memorized yet.

We started out at Pho Maximum (or was it Maxim?) on Merivale. This was my first Pho experience which turned out to be a success! I enjoyed it thoroughly and it warmed my body while sitting across from the window. I had pleasant conversation with all and was happy to have spoken to Mark (Marc) in a sober fashion as the last time I had met him, was at my Christmas part. NOT a good time to have a conversation with me, unless you want to talk about what beer is better, or philosophical issues.

Heading over to Mike and Mel's place, we munched on some good treats and settled into the living to play around with Joe's electric guitar. I impressed myself with my rendition of Crazy Train which I only know the first few riffs for. Considering I am more of a rhythm man myself, I always am proud of anything I accomplish in the world of lead guitar.

Considering it was Melissa's birthday, there was a questionnaire about her which only confirmed the fact that I really don't know much about her! ;-) It was a neat idea and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I may borrow it for future events.

I played a little Dance Dance Revolution which I found very lame. Larisa pointed out that it gets better if I increase the difficulty level. I decided to not give it any further chance, as I realize that Guitar Hero 2 is so much better than dancing around the floor.

The moment of the night was when we pulled out Them Vs. Us (the board game my parents bought me for Christmas) and we had a full out battle of males vs. females. I think there were a good 30 of us competing which is insane considering everyone yells out answers within a time limit. Half the time people on the same team didn't hear that someone on their team had yelled out the same answer a few times.

It was funny when someone commented "I can't believe you played this game with your family!" due to the sheer R Rated cards that show up from time to time. They misunderstood that I had received it from my parents, not played it with them. ;-)

In the end (does this even need to be said?), the males trounced the females once again which just goes to show .

All in all, a fun night! Kudos to Mike and Melissa, and seeing that TODAY is actually Melissa's birthday, I send birthday wishes to you!

iplaying: Send It Up - Vertical Horizon (Everything You Want)

For awhile now, as I've been searching deal sites like redflagdeals.com or pricenetwork.com and they always advertise this NCIX.com website.

I decided to peruse their wares as I am in need of some blank DVDs and CDs.

Well, I was in for a pleasant surprise! I managed to score the following items:

• 50 CD-Rs for $5.99
• 100 DVD-Rs for $27
• 2 96 Disc Carrying Cases at $4 a pop.

Not too shabby at all. Perhaps there are better deals out there for the DVD-Rs that I would have found if I would have spent the time searching, but I figured the CDs and carrying cases were a steal of a deal and a quick look into other stores showed 100 DVD-Rs for $27 was a fair price.

Anyhow, I haven't received them yet so I can't comment on their prompt service, but I'm sure I will be checking out this store in the future if I need anything!

iplaying: You Say - Vertical Horizon (Everything You Want)

It's coming from all sides...first Joe mentions Van Halen, then Chez106 speak about how it has hit RED ALERT status on their website which can only mean one thing.

Chances are, Van Halen are coming to Ottawa.

Beauty. Whoever is interested, let me know.

What's my history with Van Halen? Well, to recap my history in the music scene, I wasn't really into music until the mid-90s. 1996 to be exact. I remember it well. Someone had lent me the Aerosmith - Get a Grip album. What a beauty. What were these amazing sounds coming from the speakers? Guitar solos? Sweet Mother of Pearl!

Later on that year, I picked up the Van Halen - Balance album where I was introduced to Van Halen. A decent album, I didn't know what to expect. Then the cream of the crop came to me in the form of Best of - Volume 1. I didn't know what the hype was about. Some old singer of theirs...a Mr. David Lee Roth had come back to the fold and recorded two new songs for the album. What's the big deal? He isn't the current singer, Mr. Sammy Hagar.

After listening to Best Of album, I realized that there was a whole world of Van Halen out there to experience. The David Lee Roth era was more rock (it seemed to me) whereas the Hagar era was more toned down, more "Hey, I'm getting a little older, but I'm cool with it." rock. At least, judging from the Best Of album. I can't say I own many other Halen albums other than 1984 (the quintessential!).

So now Diamond David Lee Roth has returned to the fold for a tour and Ottawa is a rumoured date. Excellent. This is an experience that doesn't come around too often.

I am laughing to myself right now thinking of Troy and him saying "What the heck?! My first album was 1984, and Ryan didn't even get know the band until 1996?!"

update: Alright, I've been listening to Balance again and I take it back. Van Hagar rocks just as well as the Roth Era. They must have just picked out the slow tunes as singles.

iplaying: Poundcake - Van Halen (Best Of...Volume 1)

My chair is broken to the point where it always loses it's height setting and I'm sitting a foot from the floor. Argh.

My friend Sara's brother has a weight bench with weights to give away. If you're interested, let me know and I'll hook you up with Sara. I don't know ANY details.

So besides the fact that I had to travel to the far ends of the Earth to get these new earphones for my iPod, I got them for free care of Apple.

My warranty is almost up and I managed to get a new iPod out of them a few months back. So, considering my warranty is running out next month, I thought I may as well invest in a new pair of headphones!

Very simple process actually - they will send you the new headphones without even receiving the old ones back right away. They do give you a time limit (like 3 weeks) to send back your defective ones or they charge you $23.

Two thoughts come to mind here:
1) Apple warranty is pretty good about their cheap-ass earphones. I mean, your dog could eat your earphones and as long as they are on warranty, they will replace them. In my case, I simply indicated that the left phone cut in and out sporadically and voila, a new set sent my way!
2) Even if I didn't return my old ones, $23 seems like a cheap price to pay compared to the $39 that is charged for a new pair. Granted, you have to be under warranty.

Anyhow, in the end, I must admit that I think the iPod headphones suck anyhow for their sound quality, but there's no wrongdoing with owning a new pair.

iplaying: Get It Right - Jets Overhead (Help! A Day in the Life)