NO really I am still alive...

I felt a post to let those that might read my little rants here know that I am still alive. It's been a little busy around here and I will have an update post for you soon(for those that care anyway..lol). But I do have something to share. Two days from now is Canada Day, a day to celebrate all that is Canadian. Good Beer, Hockey, Bob And Doug McKenzie and poutine damn it ,all great Canadian things. And it is with that in mind that I share a Canada Day playlist with you. All Canadian Artists, so that when you are sitting back having the friends and family over for a BBQ you should have some of this stuff playing like the good Canadians that you are.

1. New Orleans is Sinking- The Tragically Hip
2. Keep On Rockin in the Free World- Neil Young and Crazyhorse
3. Where have all the Good People gone- Sam Roberts
4. Diggin a Hole- Big Sugar
5. The Weight- The Band
6. Recordbody Count- The Rheostatics
7. Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald- The Rheostatics(live cover) or the Original by Gordan Lightfoot
8. Old Apartment - Barenaked Ladies
9. Up on Cripple Creek- The Band
10. Little Bones- The Tragically Hip
11. Hasn't hit Me Yet- Blue Rodeo
12. In between The Two Of Us- The Skydiggers
13. Cowgirl in the Sand- Neil Young
14. The Gate- Sam Roberts
15.Money City Maniacs- Sloan
16. Not ready To Go- The Trews
17.The Good In Everyone- Sloan
18. It Could Happen to you- Blue Rodeo
19. Brian Wilson- The Barenaked Ladies
20. Fuckin Up- Neil Young and Crazyhorse...

I know others will make fun of this list but fuck ya!...have a good holiday weekend....

It's official...My Childhood is coming back

Being born in the late 70's, I was three when the 80's came around.

This means that I am now at the age where people start buying back their childhoods. Me I am not really one for that,I never had the need to buy those nostalgic items from my childhood, especially since I still have my comic book collection, a mint condition Optimus Prime(the only Transformer that survived the purge of the old room by my mom) still with the fists and trailer accessories(trust me that is a feet unto it's self), some random G.I.Joe vehicles and action figures, and remember when Michael Jackson was a genius and the King Of Pop. Hell I had Thriller(on tape damn it)when it first came out, the yellow Sony "sports"walkman, Back to the Future, Robocop and those John Hughes movies..ahh yes the 80's memeories..

However there were parts of the 80's that sucked, don't get me wrong(Culture Club, Rick Springfield, and Teen Wolf Too) but nothing compares to the one thing that changed life as much as one thing. This changed how you spent Sat afternoons and the time between after school and dinner. What is this life changing thing you might ask?. Well my friends look no further than ..The original Nintendo entertainment System and more specifically Super Mario Bros.

I don't care who you are we all loved this game. The story of Mario racing through the Mushroom Kingdom in search of Princess Toadstool fighting the forces of the evil Koopa all the way through. The excitemnt of finding the warp zone on level 2 or how on level 3 stage 2 if you bounced the turtle shell just right you could get like 100 lives. The hours spent on that game were astronomical and to this day remains the only thing(well maybe Tetris too) that I wish I still had from childhood. If I could find someone that would part with an functioning NES I would so buy it.

But Nintendo does seem to know what it's doing. After many incarnations of Mario games over the years this remains my favorite,(though Mario Cart for the 64 is a close second)they are releasing a "new"Super Mario bros for the hand held Nintendo DS, (the older brother of game boy is my understanding)it looks and plays very much like the original and only for 150 bucks plus the price of the game. You know this is marketed at the "nostalgic for my childhood demographic", kids today have Halo and World of warcraft...Me I want me some Mario action like back in the day.

It seems to me like I can be 12 again for just 150 bucks, I might seriously think about this now. But then you have to wonder is it like everything from our childhoods that was cool then, but now loses it's magical appeal. I mean come on when you were a kid Top Gun seemed like a cinematic masterpiece things just don't hold up. I played Mario Brothers for the first time in years last year and it still was fun. I'm sure I could justify the purchase some how..Maybe I should have a garage sale to bankroll the trip down memory lane. Worked for someone I know....

Yup another day.....

It has been kinda a long day today and I really wanted to expound on the comment from "Mac" from the Oasis post the other day but it's not ready yet and I wanted to keep the streak of posts alive so I have preempted that post for this.

Merely just a bunch of random fucking thoughts. So if you don't want to hear anykind of bitching or complaining I suggest you leave now..I won't be mad really...ok now that those bastards have left here you go. A random thought list

1. The World Cup started today in Germany...and no one in Canada cared. Fucking soccer..thats right I said soccer. Football is played with pads and on a field not a "pitch"..

2.As much as I hate bands like Nickelback , Theory of a Deadman. Simple Plan and Disturbed and all those other favorites of top forty radio, I have come to one conclusion. Their continued popularity will mean one thing..the continued absence of boy bands..I still want Chad Kroeger to go to hell don't get me wrong...but at least there is no NSync record on the horizon.

3.Bono is still a bastard

4.If a guy has a moles-tache and only listens to have the things you tell him. he shouldn't be looking after your restaurant with out a chaparone...or in this case a trained monkey

5.The CBC is showning the Stanley Cup final from 1987 (I think) between the Oilers and Bruins. And one think becomes clear in watching those old games. Gretzky really was one of the best to play the game.

6.I think it's funny how a terorist leader gets killed and the price of oil goes down. Can you explain that to me.

7.Sat nights may be alright for fightin, but they suck ass for watching T.V.

8.If somebady askes the governor who runs the Royal Canadain Mint for proof of a signature does he just flash a twenty?

9.This is going to be the worst post ever.

10.Anyone that goes through a drive thru at 830 in the am and is blaring techno music, like that fucking Paul Olkenfold stuff, needs to embrace reality. That music is only good at parties, clubs and should never ever just be your driving around music, especially with kids in the care. Poor bastards will grow up loving that shit then it will never go away...

There that's it...not much but it's there for reading anyway. I do want to leave you a bright point for the day however. I wanted to leave you with my album of the day: Phish- Round Room. Go find it.. listen to it..enjoy it...at least try something new damn it...I'm out

Four days in a row....

I seem to be getting into this habit of blogging everyday. This officially makes 4 in a row which is pretty much a record around these parts. I had a few things to go off about..The Transformer live action movie, The Stanley Cup play offs and last but certainly not least I wanted to comment on "Mac"'s comment form the Oasis post, but that is a topic that I hold dearly and it deserves more time and and lucidity than I have now at 1;36 am after a very long night at work. So I will share with you the goodnight playlist that is playing while I type...songs of a mellow feel but that don't mean they don't rock...and for you children of the 80's the picture with tonight's post is the teaser poster for the live action TRANFORMERS movie due next July...on with the list:

Together- The Racanteurs
Oh Sweet Nuthin- the Velvet Underground
No Sleep - Sam Roberts
Other man- Sloan
Mr.Soul(unplugged version)-Neil Young
Mind's eye- WolfMother
Grace Too- The Tragically Hip(Dlae go to hell...)
Drown in my own tears- Ray Charles
Don't let it bring you Down- Neil Young
Doin the shout- John Lee Hooker
Thrill is Gone- B.B. King
The Horse-Phish
You've got her in your pocket- The White Stripes
Hey Love- Stevie Wonder
Waste- Phish
When I paint My Masterpiece- The Band
Wait in vain- Bob Marley
Three little Birds- Bob Marley.
Pebbels and Marbles- Phish
#41- Dave Matthews Band
5 days in May- Blue Rodeo


If you have never heard any of these(though the list is pretty main stream) go check them out..my gift to you. And if you don't like them.. fuck ya...I don't want to hear it...better yet don't like it share with me what you think I should be listening too..

A message to you....

So I just got back from visiting Jen and attending her graduation from the University of Victoria(pictured above).

Now I could go on about how I took her to the casino for the first time, getting lost on the way there(No really Jen it's over here...I think...)not being able to use quarters in the slots, going book hunting at Russell Books...No this is just a note to say congratulations.

It was a long road of hard work, tests ,research and essay writing but you did it. So in this semi-public forum I want to express my pride in you for working so hard to get to the end. Good Job..Feel better and I will talk to you tonight...

A music snob looks a little deeper.

The following info is going to be old news to anyone that follows anykind of pop culture media, but oh well..bear with me on this one alright..

A recent poll done among British music fans found that they believe that "definitely, Maybe" by Oasis is the best album of all time...Let that sink in....

I thought a lot about this since I read that. "You mean to tell me that that album is better than Revolver(#3) or Abbey Road!" by the Beatles was the first thing I thought, two albums that have long bounced back and forth in my mind as the two best off all time.I mean for the love of God this is the Beatles we're talking about. The group that helped define music today. In fact I could list a whack of better albums than Oasis' debut album. Pink Floyd's the Wall, Nevermind-Nirvana,Loaded by The Velvet Underground,Neil Young's Harvet or After the goldrush, Zepplin II, exile On Main Street by The Stones the list could go on and on.

But then a thought crossed my musical-elitist-snob(not my words)mind...am I ready to accept that one day a band will write a better album than the Beatles?

As a self-confessed music snob I have a deep love of the Beatles and am well aware of the place they hold in musical history, I credit them with creating pop music, insiring a generation of bands, changed the way music was written blah blah blah. But could Oasis be capable of writing a better album Than Abbey Road?

The Gallagher bros. once said that if the Beatles were bigger than Jesus then they were bigger than the Beatles (or something like that), a statement that got them a lot of press back in the day. This kind of thing is great for debates with the Heterolife mate and the Homeoffice music division but I am beginning to think it's a losing battle to convince those not in the know. I almost think that it is generational, most kids today have only heard of The beadles not heard The beadles I was born in the late 70's, but had my mind opened at a young age. Kid's today need to do that. They need to know where the music came from, share it with others.

Of coarse it could also be a geographical thing. Ask kids in the US and they will probably say a Dylan album or a damn Springsteen album. Ask a kid in Compton and it's "The Chronic" by Dr.Dre or something. All this points to the fact that maybe (again)I realize that I take this stuff too seriously(though I do laugh at it, it's not like it ruins my day )and besides it was in fucking England for Christ sake the land of Boiled food and crappy candy..and Robbie Williams...so what does all this late night rambling come down too...fuck Oasis thats what..(except for "Don't look back in anger..I like that song)..they won't change the world like The beatles or The Stones or even Dr.Dre, and I can rest easier knowing that...I really need to find a program haha...

Let's take the attention away from the middle east shall we?

Any regular reader of this space will know a few things right away. I have a deep love for the music and movies and pop culture in general and I think George Bush is an idiot...Today's little rant is about the latter.

So I wake yesterday morning and turn on the T.V. to check out the morning news and there he was an all his "Gosh-darn -I-don't know what I am saying-because I am an idiot" splendor. And he was announcing that he was supporting an amendment to the U.S. constitution that would make gay marriage illegal, through out all the land. As it is now down below the 49th parallel the definition of marriage is defined by the courts, what this amendment would do is take that power away from the courts. This would mean that all states would have to follow the constitution in the definition of marriage, thus making same-sex marriage illegal. Which in my humble, Canadian, straight guy opinion is down right wrong. The funniest thing was at the end of his little speech he said that all people deserve to be treated the same. Hypocrite...

Now the amendment will be defeated that is a given .The real thing that bothers me about this whole issue is a many sided coin my friends, from the whole running on religion issues to the failure to change with the times and recognize the changes in society.

The U.S. has always had the image as the land of opportunity and the free, but here they are trying to take away peoples rights. How would you feel if a government telling you how to live?, who you could marry? I just think it's wrong to let ones personal religious beliefs affect the standard of living and basic rights of a person. If a guy wants to marry his boyfriend what affect does that have on my life?..Nothing exactly..Go ahead do what you want. People need to get their head out of their asses and realize that the world is no longer the image that Ozzie and Harriet portrayed in the 50's. No one should be telling anybody how to live. Oprah and Dr.Phil do enough of that already.

No George just wanted to make his ultra conservatives supporters happy by making good on a campaign promises and take some attention away from that other little thing he started in Iraq and Afghanistan. I can't stress enough how much religion needs to be taken out of politics. Am I saying this because I am not a religious person?..I may not be religious but that's not the reason why. It just makes sense, religion is just bad news when trying to run a country. It clouds your perception and judgment. Some of the greatest blights on human history can stem from the personal beliefs of a leader, the Crusades, Germany from 1939-1945. Thank God I live in Canada where things. I feel, are a little more forward thinking based. Hell all the same-sex couples can move here and get married, unless of course Steven Harper follows the example of his Idol Goergie-Porgie....

The Death of...

I had a whole rant about some U.S. Politics stuff about borders and such, but a matter of a greater importance than sharing my latest thoughts on the trainwreck that is the Bush administration came to mind. A matter that we all need to wake up and fix damn it. People...the movie theatre is dying!

I was reading an article in the latest fourtune magazine that I jacked from the stand at work and it talking about the different powerbrokers in Hollywood, the new young producers and the like, but there was also an article on Shari Redstone(her father is Sumner Redstone)who runs National Entertainments. One of the US's biggest theater chains and about what they are doing to get people in the doors.

For a long time I thought that the declining movie going audience(some reports say that over the past 5 years audiences have declined about 25-30%) was because Hollywood just wasn't putting out quality movies. The movie industry of course blames piracy. But then again if the heads of the studios got up and they had no milk for their cereal they would blame piracy too, but I digress.

But more and more it seems that it's technology that is hampering things for the theater owners. People's home entertainment systems have gotten so good that they don't really need to leave the house to experience a movie like you would in the theater, and with the ever increasing short turn around from theater to DVD the casual movie-goer will stay home where they are comfortable, can smoke, eat what they want or sit in their underwear and watch the adventures of Sam and Frodo or the latest action movie in peace.

This is wrong. I for one love going to the theater. Nothing beats the big screen ,smell of pop corn ,snotty teen age ushers and making fun of the guy by himself. The only thing is at home you don't have to tell the three kids behind you that snuck into the movie in the first place to shut the fuck up! The theater is the only way to experience movies for the first time.

So people get up and go out to a movie house. Go see the latest pop corn flick, take the boy\girlfreind\wife to see a chick flick something god damn it just go. Go on cheap night(if offered by your theater) go to a second run theater and see movies you love from years ago that you didn't get to see on the big screen.Just go! the movie theaters of your towns and cities need you.

So when the kids say "Hey can we rent movies?" you look deep into that childs eyes and big smile as they look back at you with the hope that you will say yes so they can rent the latest teen\child movie and say ...."Fuck No! little Bobby ..we goin out to the movies". Make it a tradition ,hit a Sat matinee, I don't care but go out to a theater damn it live the dream, I know it can be expensive but live a little damn it. It's still cheaper than filling your gas tank!...