Catching Up

I guess I haven't posted in quite some time. I have been so damn busy. I just started my 3rd semester at Georgian in the CSTN coarse, next semester is my co-op and I'm quite excited about that. To follow up on the Algonquin trip, it was super fun. We ended up interior camping, so it was quite secluded. Our camp site was only accessible by canoe so it was great. It was really odd because random animals would just pass through our campsite and not even give us a second glance. The funniest was this awkward looking pheasant/quail looking bird that walked by so cool and collected. Needless to say when it got dark I was on pheasant/quail patrol. Ever night there was a mouse who hung out with us around the fire and every morning there were three chipmunks who would spend the days with us. At about 4 in the morning on our last day there I heard a rather large heavy footed animal outside our tent. It stopped and took in a deep low breath (I'm guessing it was smelling the tent) so I hit the side of the tent to scare it off; It let out a deep moan and walked off. My guess is that it would have been either a bear or a moose, either way, thats a little scary. On our last day before we left Tia decided to throw the bag with a few arousal cans onto the dock. She heard a hissing noise and informed me so I investigated. Turns out it was the bear mace that had exploded and it got all over me. My leg and foot swelled up and turned purple, but either then that the trip was perfect. Seeing our big trip we planned is done and over with we started planning our next. For Tia's birthday we decided to go to New York. She's been there before and I have yet to so I'm really excited to check out the art gallery and the museum of natural history. I hope the next trip we take is in Europe somewhere, I would love to visit Lahr which is the city in Germany that I grew up. Either then that, everything is pretty much the same. Hopefully I will have some time to make a new post with some opinion on something no one cares about soon =) Now that I come to think of it, heres something! I found this awesome band from Sweden called The Knife. The are a electro/pop/indie kind of band. Their music is great but also their attitudes are so rock star. They refuse to do interviews and any pomo pictures taken of them they are wearing bird masks (the ones the medieval doctors wore during the black plague outbreak). They have been around since 2001 but have only played around 20 shows during the winter of 2006, 3 of which were in the United States. Its so refreshing to see a band that doesn't want notoriety. However their song "Heartbeats" was featured in a Sony commercial for the Bravia TV. They were against the idea, but Sony offered them ALOT of money. In the end they agreed, but they gave rights to Sony to use the song if it was preformed by another artist, so in the end, they aren't in the commercial, just their song preformed by Jose Gonzalez (Who does an amazing job might I add). Way to keep your obscurity! =) Here's a video from their DVD for Heartbeats live. The DVD (Silent Shout - An Audio Visual Experience) showcases their one and only tour and really is what it says, and audio visual experience. The light show, costumes and spectacle pair well with the music. The live version is quite different then the album version. The album version is more dancey and upbeat where the live version seems more somber. Check out the album version if you like what you hear.
Cheers!

My Old Neighborhood Blew Up

As many of you have either seen on the news, or witnessed (my friends in Toronto) the propane facility in Downsview park, which was literally in my back yard in Toronto, blew up. Everyone was evacuated from Stanley Green Park (my old sub-division). I have contacted most of my friends to wish them well and learned two people, a fire fighter and a facility worker died in the explosion. Its amazing that only two people lost their lives considering the explosion looked like an A-Bomb going off. My thoughts go out to everyone involved, it must have been terrifying. Incase you haven't seen what happened here is a short clip of the explosion.

The Retarded Policeman!!!

I have been so damn busy latley, the semester is in it's last week so its time to hand in all the projects and write all the final exams. I thought I would post something as I haven't in a long time. I have been recently informed of a Youtube show called "The Retarded Policeman". Staring as the retarded policeman is Josh Perry, an actor with Down Syndrome. It is terribly offensive on so many levels, but its cool cause Josh knows exactly what he's doing and can actually poke fun at his disability. Here's one episode I find especially funny (watch it all the way through after the credits). Check them all out, they are outrageously funny and quite shocking the first time you see it. Cheers!

Why So Serious?

I of course had a ticket to the midnight screening of The Dark Knight. We showed up at the Barrie Cineplex two hours before the doors opened to the theater, we figured that would be plenty of time. When we showed up the line was almost down the stairs. By midnight all 1050 people were crammed in the lobby (3 theaters, with 350 seat completely sold out). Upon sitting down and waiting for the commercials and previews started, the atmosphere in the theater was almost electric. When the lights went out and they started playing the short milk commercials everyone started cheering, just because we were that much closer to seeing the movie.I must say, the hype and build up and standing in a hot sweaty geek ridden line for two hours was definitely worthy of this movie. It was AMAZING. Of course the cast was excellent (even Maggie Gyllenhaal who I am not a big fan of was good) but the most stand out performance was of course the late Heath Ledger. I remember watching Tim Burton's Batman religiously with my father when I was living in Germany almost ever night for the longest time. Jack Nicholson as the Joker was what I thought was the peak of what the Joker could possibly be. The only thing that ever bothered me about him was his perfect make up. How can someone constantly on the run from authorities have such excellently applied make up? When I first heard Heath Ledger was playing the Joker in the second installment of the revived Batman franchise I remember the blogs and posts about how bad of a decision the casting director made. I had been on a Broke Back Mountain kick because it is such an amazing movie and totally believed that someone who could put their own sexuality aside to play a role could pretty much do anything. In a way, I think the rest of the franchise might be doomed. If you haven't seen the movie yet I would advice you to stop reading now. So we have the ending of the movie; the Joker survives and is carted away to prison by the feds and Two Face has fallen to his demise. I think they did this because the realized Heath's character was what was selling the movie and hopefully the rest of the franchise (whysoserious.com, posters, commercials ex...), but what now? No more Joker? They wouldn't dare recast the Joker, that would be all 500 nails driven into their coffin all at once. No more Two Face right? The one possibly villain who could be carried over to the next movie can't be because Harvey Dent is dead... or is he? I could possibly foresee Harvey not actually being dead and come back to be the main villain in the next installment, some sort of faked death scam so he can regroup, gather up the resources and goons he needs for a proper assault on Gotham City. However, that still comes back to the fact that I think the franchise may be doomed. What's next? How can they possibly top Heath's performance? Not only was his performance legendary (I seriously believe it was) but the stigma of Heath playing such a deranged character and then ultimately meeting his mysterious demise makes this character really come to life through his death. I for one don't think that his death had anything to do with suicide or the role of the Joker taking over his mind, it was all just a mistake in moderation but regardless, it still adds a whole new level to the character. Believe me when I say that I am the first to hope that when the third installment comes out I'll be in the audience at a midnight screening eating my words with a side of popcorn and root beer, but I'm a pessimist through and through and will always be one. The death of such a talented actor is terrible especially when it was said he was in the prime of his career; I hope the franchise won't end up dying with Heath.

The 19 Billion 250 Million Dollar Question

So it looks like the cell phone companies are doomed. Auction 73 finished in March with a result not many people thought would turn out, or agree with or for the most part understand the ramifications behind. Auction 73 was the federal auction for the 700MHz spectrum. For those who don't know, the 700MHz spectrum is the wave length at which calls, text messages and emails are sent and received via cell phone. The auction started in January with a few interested bidders such as AT&T, Quailcom, Virgin Mobile and oddly enough, the advertising power-house knows for it's search engine, Google. Google's explanation for the want for the 700MHz was simple: if it costs the same to chat with someone across the street from you or on the other side of the world, all your simply paying for is the Internet connection. Why should it be any different for phone calls. However, Google took it one step further and asked themselves, why should we have to pay for our hardware (cell phones, PDAs, Black Berries) and then pay a monthly fee to use said hardware we just purchased? Their final plan was to make the 700MHz a free access point to use your hardware that you purchase from the big cell phone companies. How can they afford to shell out the billion dollars to buy the spectrum and to what use would it be to them to just give it away you ask? Google's main income is brought in by their advertising, and with an entire spectrum at their disposal there would be plenty of room to advertise and plenty of revenue to be made. When the large cell phone companies got wind of this they were obviously not happy campers. The estimated revenue generated from the auction was thought to be in the neighbourhood of five to seven billion dollars, but when the auction finished, the bids added up to almost twenty billion dollars. The large jump in the 700MHz value was because all the other companies wanted to keep the spectrum out of Google's price range, making the biggest winners in the auction AT&T and Virgin Mobile. I've read a lot of blogs and message board on the loss of Google, most people are upset and would have liked to see a different outcome. I think, if anything, this outcome may benefit us in the long run. Of course the rumour mill has started moving and it seems Google may have found a niche in this newly delegated 700MHz spectrum... more profitable for themselves and more damaging for the big cell phone companies. What I've heard from my professors and peers is that Google plans on leasing some 700MHz space and giving it away for free, just like they wanted to before, but in addition they will be manufacturing cell phones and giving them away at no cost! All of this is with in Google's budget because they would be using the cell phones to send you text messages or phone calls to advertise things. This of course would make them huge bucks. Seeing that no cell phone companies will be making any money off selling service because Google is just giving it away, next time the 700MHz spectrum goes up for auction no one is going to want it and Google could possibly pick it up for possibly a few thousand dollars... talk about depreciation. Of course the only downside I can see in this situation is the advertising. We are already advertised at left right and center. I think a bit more is completely worth not having a cell phone bill or needing to pay for the hardware. If this trend actually comes to fruition I could see us one day not needing to pay for Internet access and being handed a computer by some company as long as we promise to read one email a week about their newest products and services. As of now, were all still slaves to the cell phone bills but hopefully soon Google will save us. Cheers!

John of the Jungle

All the preparations have been made, the time booked off from work and school, the proper permits have been purchased and canoe lessons have been given. Tia and I are going into the interior of Algonquin park this August for a week long canoe and camping trip. Not a drive to your site and drink beer trip, but a real, survive off the land in the middle of nowhere camping trip. We broke out the canoe route map of Algonquin and mapped out our trip. We are going to start off by launching from the launch site at Opeongo Lake and through out the week make our way from the south arm of the lake to the north arm where we will stay in a moose habitat near a swamp. Tia did surprisingly well for her first time canoing, but I should have known she would seeing she's pretty much the most best thing ever. Bears scare the hell out of me so I believe I'm going to buy bear spray. Statistics show that it's pretty much a fluke if you manage to see a bear because they can smell you and go out of their way to stay away from you; you could be just a few feet away from a bear and not even know it because its slipping off in the the bush quietly as to not attract your attention. In the area's history of being a national park, there have only ever been two incidences that resulted in death due to bear attack. Both these incidences were caused not because of the campers inappropriate reaction to the bear, but because they were attacked by a lone male with the intent to kill and consume. Bears vary rarely stock and kill humans for a source of food (especially black bears, which are the only species found in Algonquin Park) but it has happened on very rare occasion. So like I said, bears scare the hell out of me. Also, I seem to be a magnet for hoarse and deer flies. I don't know if anyone has come in contact with these terrible insects from the pits of hell, but they are not cool. Think of a house fly, but a few times bigger, and they bite, and when they do, that take two plugs of skin with them. Their bite is so deep and large it actually draws blood. When I was younger and would canoe with my father, I would return from our trips covered in little red dots and dried blood. As Tia and I are going in late August, the deer and hoarse flies we'll be gone and the mosquitoes will be at a minimum. With all the being said, I haven't yet delved into the issue that worries me the most. Going to the bathroom in the wild makes me a little worried. Only a few of these designated camp areas have privies (which is what the picture at the top is of) which is a little wooden box with a hole, righ there in the open, that you poop into... kinda scared of that. And you have a privy if your lucky, either then that, your poopin' in a bush getting you ass bit by rattle snakes. The excitement and fun of the trip definitely out-way my worries, but then again, I worry about everything. A few more canoe lessons and a shopping trip and we'll be ready to go. Cheers!

FINALLY!

It's about fucking time!
So many people said it wasn't going to happen, but it did, BAM!
Two classes have been unveiled so far, the Barbarian returns to smash shit with his hammers and axes and the Witch Doctor steps onto the Diablo scene for the first time with the abilities to raise plague infested canine like creatures from corpses, which leads me to believe the Necromancer won't be making a return. You can also choose between alternate sexes now, which also leads me to lead the Amazon won't be making a return either. A guy Amazon... I doubt it. I can't even wait!

They're Coming To Get You Barbra... The Trees That Is

on monday i went to check out m. night shyamalan's new film 'the happening'. the world has been committing mass suicide at random and it turns out we have good old mother nature to thank. i was really excited from the trailers, all those people offing them selfs in such brutal ways, but what you see in the trailer is what you get. i was a little disappointed in the lack of gore and brutality, it seemed like such a promising canvas. the bits that we do see are definitely well executed and even have me feeling a little squeamish. i can appreciate the fact that there wasn't so much because it really gave what there was a big punch, and believe me, it was quite effective indeed. 'the happening' was marketed as Night's first rated R movie but i was surprised to see a 14a rating on it when i picked up the tickets. i guess the R rating was for the US theatrical release. the violence isn't anything more or less then what you would see in any other movie that wasn't rated R but i guess the fact that it was all suicide made the rating board a little uncomfortable which branded it R in the states. also, the movie was marketed as a horror film, which it was not at all; it was a science fiction flick through and through. as with any science fiction film, you can really tell when the movie was made. you can definitely tell that this movie was made in our environmentally conscious times... well, veiled attempt at being environmentally conscious. humanity has become to much of a bane on the earth so the plants have come up with a plan; release a toxin that causes humans to commit suicide. the only big problem i had with this movie was the character development, it was really unnecessary and a lot of it didn't make any sense at all. the major character development flaw was mrs. jones. she has such an odd character and your just waiting to see what she's all about and then BAM! her face is through a pain of glass and nothing is said of her after that... pointless. i found this film was much like george romeros night of the living dead, not because there were zombies or anything like that, but the end of the world idea was executed so similar. in both movies, the world is ending, disaster is upon us and there is such a tense air, but the bulk of the material is shot in a field, or a farm house; it was executed so well we don't need to see the mayhem all over the world, because we believe it. considering hes only been around for about 10 years, i think were gonna see many many more movies from him, and if he can deliver movies with such classic elements i can only imagine how good his future films are going to be. night has been getting a load of slack for his films ever since 1999 when he's giant block buster 'the sixth sense' came out; all the critics and film goers have been comparing all his films to this massive success and they have all been disappointed. personally, i love all his films, its just to bad his massive hit had to be at the beginning of his directorial career. love him or hate him, the film 'the happening' reminds us we need to be more conscious of our world and treat it properly before mother nature goes all kung fu on our asses. cheers!

NxNE

every year it's the same thing; nxne (north by north east) comes to town, i never get the time off, then it happens and i glue myself to a radio for the three to four days of it and pout and wish i was there. this year was no different of course =). the line up was quite exciting and there were many bands that i wish i could have seen and made more of an opinion of. on the top of my list was spiral beach, a cute little catchy band. of course moneen was there as well and played at the el macombo. i've always preferred their earlier material but listening to their coverage from nxne i heard some of the new new new stuff that they were show casing at their nxne show and i'm super excited to check out the album when it comes out, which won't be for a while yet. also, local barrie/alcona heroes, fox jaws had a set and from what i've heard from friends and blogs and what not, it went very well. hopefully this gets them more public exposure. im pouty, and i wish i went. here is the video for 'made of stone' by spiral beach. cheers!

One-Winged Angel

probably my all time favorite piece of music to appear in a video game would have to be one-winged angel from final fantasy VII. for anyone familiar with the game, it happens during the fight in which you face off against the big bad sephiroth. i found this clip on youtube of nobuo uematsu's (the composer of the final fantasy VII soundtrack) band, the black mages, performing it with a full orchestra and latin chorus backing them up. this song has been done time and time again at video game awards and the various video game orchestra events but this is probably the best i've seen. this version however, sounds like the advent version, which appears on the soundtrack to final fantasy VII: Advent children, the animated movie sequel to the video game. this is due to the electric guitars and rock drum kit, which might i add, makes the song even better. enjoy! cheers!

Linuxeriffic

last week i had finally had enough with windows vista and i wiped my c drive partition with all that was vista and the broken remnants of xp. i then booted up ubuntu and am so happy that i did. i have always been an apple man, but for my school laptop i really couldn't afford all that money just for a box to word process, surf the next and maybe play a few games. windows osx is a unix based operating system, and ubuntu is a linux os, which is based in unix, so having something that echoed mac osx on my laptop designed for windows is amazing. i guess i picked ubuntu because it probably the most recognized of the linux distributions, its very well put together and its completely and totally free. i think there are only a few that have a fee attached to them, like red hat and i think debian as well. the cost covers all the user support and the quality of the os but ubuntu has the same, if not better, support and the quality is superb, i haven't come across anything i don't think is excellent yet. needless to say from now on, any none apple box is getting some form of linux on it. another really amazing thing about the ubuntu community is that there are so many version of the os; ubuntu, kubuntu, secunbuntu, gobuntu, edunbuntu and so on and so forth. they even have religious unbuntus such as ubuntu CE(christian edition) and ME (muslim) edition. also, on the opposite end of the spectrum there is ubuntu SE (satanic edition), no jokes. the latest version of unbuntu is called hardy heron, which is 8.4. the latest version of SE is called headless hoarsman 8.4. Honestly, i think its quite hilarious. when version 6.4 was out about a year ago it was know as version 666.4 on the SE, how cute =) The distribution that interests me the most though is ubuntustudio. this os comes with a full suit of open source audio, video and graphic editing and manipulating software. from reading some forums, the audio editing suit is comparable to pro tools... i don't know if i necessarily believe that, but if its even close, that is completely amazing, considering its all one hundred percent free. so i'm a linux man now, if anyone isn't really familiar with linux i suggest downloading the ubuntu ISO and making a boot disk. you can use the OS right from the cd, so you don't have to load anything, and if you don't like it, just take the cd out and sacrifice it in a fire to ubuntu satan! cheers!

this is the cute lil logo for ubuntu satanic edition =P

Clive Barkers Ridin' The Meat Train!

Let met start off by saying happy international zombie day! ok, so i just finished reading the article in the latest fangoria magazine about the upcoming movie, the midnight meat train. only recently did i find out that clive barker actually had his hands on this project all the way through; i was under the assumption his only role was writing the story in his books of blood anthology back in 1984. japanese director ryuhei kitamra is the main man in this film but had clive barker as his right hand man and advisor for pretty much the whole filming process. you can almost tell there is a j-horror influence on this film while watching the trailer; the blood and guts of america, and the stylized beauty of japan. oh and there is plenty of blood and gut, and sexual themes, and nudity, and terrible language and everything else i think of when good old clive barker is involved with something. in fact, there is so much the MPAA wasn't able to give the film an R rating. leave it to lions gate to pick up a film that no one else will touch (devils rejects ring a bell). this whole not being able to rate the film thing really does worry me, as of now, i've read quite a few different release dates, some as early as last week, some as late as mid august, hopefully this doesn't turn into a straight to dvd movie. probably the most exciting thing about this film is the fact that they didn't mess up their casting. when ever my imagination put face to character i have always thought vinnie jones would make the perfect mr. mahogany, the main antagonist who specializes in the butcher and processing of the human body. as i picked up my new copy of fangoria i saw the cover picture, vinnie jones in a suit, holding a bloody meat tenderizing mallet. JOY! i'm quite stocked for this film indeed and will count down... or... up? to its eventual release date. cheers!

An Epic May 24 Tale... Now With Pictures!

i guess some of you have heard the harrowing tail of the may 24 weekend. it contains plane attacks, terrorism, car crashes, near death experiences and latent homosexuality. If you haven't... gather round, and listen to the tale... now with pictures!

a few of us had decided to take a trip, overseas, to clear our alcohol and school riddled minds. on the way to the airport, disaster struck; we were attacked by a run away jeep. we narrowly survived, but jeremey's car, alas, wasn't so lucky.


after walking for 17 hours towards the toronto airport, i started to notice sheldon, in a way i never noticed him before


then, i noticed jeremey in the same way.

needless to say i had my way with the both of them. sheldon was pleased with this.


finally we had made it, two weeks late for our flight. the good people at air canada squeezed us onto a flight anyways; we were quite happy.

well, everyone was happy except sheldon, who couldn't manage to get service from a flight attendant, no matter how many times he pressed the help button.

the flight was pleasant... at first. we all passed the time with activities we all enjoyed very much; sarah took her hobby of putting herself in tight places and proceeded to climb into the overhead compartment while jeremey hailed a flight attendant so he could hit the sauce.

sheldon quietly entertained himself by reading a copy of aerospace weekly. unfortunately he got confused, due to his strict read only in the washroom policy, and pooped his pants. tia enjoyed said aromas.

tia and i played a rousing round of 'try and look up my nose'.

due to jeremey's excessive 10am drinking binge, his senses had been heightened ten fold. he could tell, disaster was afoot.

'the plane! shes going down!' jeremey exclaimed, and panic ensued.

suddenly, sarah began to dance just as though the fear had been purged from her like a warming colonic. we all inquired why she was so calm in such a harrowing and tragic moment. she then reminded jeremey and i that we were both licensed pilots and we could easily set the plane down ourselves.

jeremey and i rushed to the cockpit and with some careful calculation, assessed our situation.


quite scuccessfully, we culminated our skills and set down the plane. quickly, i noticed the love of my life, tia, had gone missing.

in her seat, there was a note. it was addressed 'to my love, john'. the note explained that she was behind the plane going down, in an attempt to crash it into the west edmonton mall; canada's most prized natural resource. she had fled the plane and commandeered a fighter jet. the woman i loved, was in reality, a terrorist.

jeremey and myself knew what we had to do. we had to shoot, my terrorist soul mate from the sky. one comondered fighter jet and ten thousand feet later, we were hot on tia's jihad-ridden trail. suddenly, tragedy reared its ugly head... jeremey, regrettably, noticed a button. due to his slight mental retardation that pertains to pushing buttons, there was nothing i could do. the button, of course, was the seat ejection button and his simple mind drove his finger straight into the center of it.

i tried! oh god how i tried! but i could only hold onto his hand-me-down american eagle sweater sleeve for so long. my sweaty grip failed, and jeremey plunged to his dark, dreary, bloody, shitty, screaming explodingly doomful doom.

i hope this story, of my may 24 weekend, has dazzled and amazed you. i hope from my sorrow you can find a wealth of entertainment, especially you breanna marsh, you who revels in my anguished despair! i hope... be it only a hope, that my terrorist lady love comes back to me one day. and i hope that sheldon get his pooping every time he reads problem under control.

Diary of the Dead... Finally

So diary of the dead has finally been released on dvd. its taken some time for this movie to be seen by the masses in canada, but it has finally made it. in an earlier entry i discussed the headache it was, trying to see this movie during its limited canadian theater run; it lasted a month at most and hit three or four canadian theaters, how wonderful. needless to say, i bought my self a copy as soon as it was available and watched it, and i was quite pleased. the last 'of the dead' movies was alright. i know many die hard romero fans despised 'land of the dead' and with good reason. but we all have to remember it really wasn't george's movie by the theatrical release. 'diary of the dead' really had george's style and i was very excited about that. it almost seemed to have echoes from his original 'night of the living dead'. as all of his films seem to center around what is happening in our world socially and politically, it was fitting that this movie was centered around information sharing through blogs, youtube, myspace and all the file and text sharing sites. as our characters make their way through the zombie scared landscape of middle america, they record everything along the way, and upload it to the internet quite frequently. actually, it feels a little odd blogging about this movie, seeing thats what the whole point of the movie is, sifting through the crap thats available to find the truth; i hope i'm not adding to the digital crap pile, but i probably am. this story could almost be considered a cyberpunk/horror movie accept for the fact that the technology is the medium for the story, help communication and without the technology in question, the story would ultimately be impossible to tell. in all, i was quite impressed with the movie, and i think it was worth the wait. of course, were never gonna see anything quite as quality as the original trilogy, but that to be expected. The sequel to this movie is in the works, as far as i know, it's in post production. the basis of the movie is a little shady so far. from what i hear, it takes place on an island and i believe it stars the remaining three characters who survive. oh by the way, spoiler alter =P regardless of all the shady info, i'm really excited to see the sequel... and maybe the third? do i smell a new george romero zombie trilogy? smells like rotting flesh and fresh blood to me!
check it out, and happy zombie hunting, cheers!

Nine Inc Nails Delivers Digitally

This morning i downloaded the new nine inch nails album, 'the slip'. i downloaded it legit from the website and it was free! trent reznor (nin's front man and master mind had this to say about the album on his website.

thank you for you continued and loyal support over the years - this one's on me

i listened to half of it on the on the way to school. i'm liking it. this album is the second digital release from nine inch nails, and the first one to be completely free. i wish we would have seen this sooner, i love the idea of taking out the middle man, (much like my post below about wii-ware)its a great way of cutting costs in a world where everything is getting more and more expensive. like i said, i wish we would have seen this before but i think that mainly had to do with cutting away from the universal music group. ever since their contract has been expired, trent reznor has released two full length albums under his new vanity label 'the null corporation'. the first album of course being his monster sized ambient album 'ghosts i-iv' which is reminiscent of the still album, which was a short remake and ambient disc that came packaged with the deluxe edition of the bands live album, 'and all that could have been'. but i slip, back to 'the slip'... what a wonderful transition =). This album very much mid to late 2000s nine inch nails. the fuzzy base we've come to love (or not so much) is ever present in almost every track, while trent's haunting piano cuts the feed back and distortion beautifully. i my self have tried putting grand piano with hall effects in my own work that is soaked with feed back and i can never seem to do it right... i guess that's why hes got the record deal and the company and the millions of dollars. i'm really excited to see what the future is going to bring for digital download albums, thank god for radiohead's 'in rainbows' for getting the ball rolling with this viable media for music. however, i want to reiterate that i think nine inch nails would have been the first successful band to offer a download able album if it weren't for their ex-parent record label who forbid them from doing so. if you have any free hard drive space and the slightest love of music, i recommend downloading 'the slip' from www.nin.com, its free, and its great. below i posted a fan made video of the first single 'discipline' off of the new nin album 'the slip'. why a fan made video you ask? this video has been circulating the net and being labeled as 'the official music video' for the song, which it is most certainly not, but its goddamn hilarious. what especially makes it hilarious is the fact that everyone thinks its actually the official release. something tells me trent has seen this and probably loves it. enjoy, cheers!

We <3 Wii-Ware

Yesterday i downloaded my first wii-ware game. i decided to download 'lost winds' and i'm glad i did. first of all, wii-ware is relatively new concept (for nintendo that is, microsoft has the market place for the 360, and sony has some sort of online purchasing systems for the ps3.) brought out on mothers day with a system update from nintendo. the whole idea is to bring games, good games, from small time developers to the masses without the large price tag. your not gonna find a wii-ware game that is gonna cost you anymore then 1500 (15 bucks) but you're gonna find fresh new ideas that in my opinion are better then some of the software available on cd for 50+ dollars. in the days of underground gaming the best places to look were new grounds and ebaums world. the small, flash games were beautifully executed because they were made by the gaming public itself, not a board of graphic designers. i was a little skeptical at first, when i heard that they were embracing small time developers and bringing them to the masses, i suspected that it was just a ploy from nintendo to pump out a few games and try and get some credibility with the flash gaming community. however, on the launch day i was surprised to see the title 'protect your castle' which was a huge internet phenomenon that was released in the summer of 2003. i spent many an hour tossing stick men to their demise and watching them explode at the foot of my mighty castle. i was also really happy to see that it was made by by xgen studios which was the group of people who made the original, of course it has a few upgrades, more stick men, better graphics and what not, HOWEVER, the violence and blood has been pretty much taken out of the game so it fits more into nintendo's catalog and gets an E rating. what a shame; watching those little stick men splat in a puddle of red was quite satisfying. i however do understand why they decided to take the blood and gore out, seeing it is a download, it is available to everyone; there is no sales clerk asking you if you your 18 years of age as you buy your bright shiny new game disc. come to think of it, nintendo has embraced the little guy in the past. back in 2002 dan paladin and tom fulp released another online game, 'alien hominid' which was probably one of the best online flash games i ever played. nintnedo gave this game a chance, and a few years later offered dan and tom a spot on the nintendo game cube for a launching of 'alien hominid' to the commercial video game population. since then, at the beginning of 2007, 'alien hominid' was turned into a high definition 1080i game for download on the xbox live market place. like i said, i have only downloaded one game, 'lost winds' and am really happy with my 5 bucks spent, the game play is fresh with innovative controls, not to mention, its a side scroller. ever since the adoption of the joystick onto ALL console controllers we never ever ever see side scrollers anymore, but this game really delivers. i hope nintendo keeps this up, and it becomes more excepted to download larger and larger games instead of buying everything on software. it probably wont, seeing nintendo would be shooting itself in the foot by lowering sales in in software... hopefully it works itself out. i'm think i'm gonna go home after class and download 'pop'. cheers!

just a quick side note: i just went over the release titles for wii-ware and there are some really promising looking games in the works, especially next months, homestar runner game, which will be released in five episodes, all of them point and click adventure games, i can't even wait.

EarthBound

i just read that earthbound is FINALLY making it's way onto the virtual console for the wii, thank god, an 8 dollar download sure beats buying the cartridge for $250 and up.
good show nintendo!

Tales From Earthsea

The film 'tales from earthsea' is something that i've been waiting for, for such a long time, its more or less a topic of frustration for me, and i'm sure for studio ghibli, the movie house who created and distributed this film. it seems that the sci-fi channel hold rights to the name, from a mini series that they made that follows the same story line that the movie does, which is taken from a fantasy novel of the same name. as it turns out, the sci fi channel isn't willing to give up their rights and are planning on holding onto the rights until they expire in 2009. because the rights only pertain to north america, the rest of the world has already had the theater premier and the dvd release come and go; i find it strange that north america is going to be the last one to get rights to distribution of this movie. i think the biggest tragedy of this situation is that this movie is the fact that 'tales from earthsea' is the directorial debut of goro miyazaki, son of the creater of studio ghibli and most acclaimed director from studio ghibli, hayao miyazaki. hopefully this wrench thrown into the works doesn't hinder his directorial career. this film wasn't originally set to be directed by goro. before hayao's first film 'nausicca, in the valley of the wind' was created, he contacted ursula guin (the writer of tales from earthsea trilogy) with his interest in adapting her books into film. he was turned down. only after his award winning movie 'spirited away' was released, did she contact him and tell him she would be honored if he would direct the movie of her film, however, hayao was busy directing 'howl's moving castle' so the project was handed down to goro, under close supervision from the ghibli veterans. as it turns out, the sci fi channel went and made a version of the books into a lack-luster tv miniseries without the blessings of the author, thus taking hold of the name rights, preventing goro from releasing the movie until at least 2009. i myself don't understand why they wouldn't sign over rights, so this movie can see the light of day in north america. if anyone knows of a petition site i can sign to get this going a bit sooner, drop me a line. here's the trailer with the theme song, cheers.

A Break From My Coma

So it has been a while since i have written anything in this little blog but i'm doing so at request of tia.
Its been a very busy past little while, what with the semester ending and what not, projects and papers due and the looming shadow of a week full of finals, bleh. However, that was two weeks ago, and i'm pretty sure my only excuse is that i'm quite lazy. Its been quite the comatose two weeks, both my mother and father are gone far far away, and tia is in orillia, so its been me, in my big empty house, all alone. Its quite enjoyable, but i'm looking forward to heading back to school on monday, i could use some human interaction. The weather has been ever so crappy. We were teased with that 3 or 4 day long span of beautiful weather, but now its just cold and rainy, i guess the grass needs it... but not this guy *points thumb ay himself*. Im quite excited about taking my gen ed this semester, its science fiction, so it should be a bird coarse for me... however, i hear they don't even touch star wars... what kind of science fiction class wouldn't touch star wars? seriously! which reminds me, the new star wars animated movie, clone wars, comes out in august, i'm pretty pumped, i have the original cartoon network mini series on dvd, and i've read a few things on it, so it should be interesting; i believe they have added some new characters, neat. Im also excited that they are going to go more in depth into general grievous AND general durge, who dies in the clone wars (in between episode 2 and 3) so we didn't get to see any of him on the big screen, same with asajj ventress, count dooku's apprentice, we only ever see her in the clone wars as she disappears shortly before the evens of episode three happen. i'm such a geek. heres the trailer for the upcoming clone wars movie,


i've also been digging deep into my music collection and listening to a lot of stuff that i haven't really put any time or effort into, namely, the late, great elliott smith, god i love him, check out his stuff if you haven't ever heard of him. he died from an apparent self inflicted stab wound to the heart, how tragic. here is yet another video, this one of the song angeles, by elliot smith. this is a particularly neat video because his capo pops off during the performance and everyone gets a good laugh.

well there you have it, i've written something new, cheers.

School Days

I found this picture on Jesse's blog just a few minutes ago. I though i would post it on mine; it's a picture of my school, well, the people in my school, however its a small portion of them, but me and Jesse are in it. Try and find me.

I Want My Monkey Island

Why does everyone stare blankly at me when i tell them world of monkey island (http://www.worldofmi.com/) is closed? It's been around for ten years, and has been a great resource for the best adventure game of all time: MONKEY ISLAND!.. oh yeah, i said it. Sadly though, lucas arts hasn't been feeding us information on this sleeping franchise, and it looks like world of mi thinks its probably a dead franchise. I remember getting a copy of the first monkey island, i knew it was gonna be amazing, it was stored on five floppy disks... he he he. Over the years four games made it out, each one as amazing as the last (i still swear by the first two game, the first in its EGA format of course). The last monkey island game came out in 2000, which was pretty much the year the adventure game died. Seeing adventure games were a way to have fun and submerging game play on a pretty basic system, all the big power house systems at the time (PS2, XBOX, Gamecube) were making this kind of game play obsolete. I sincerely hope that we see a resurgence in the fan base of adventure gaming when everyone gets tired of these soulless flashy games and start looking for substance again. Since the last monkey island game has been released there has been a stage production, countless online comics and movie contracts drawn up (the last i head the production is on hiatus, probably indefinitely) of this wonderful story line. There is a speck of light in monkey island's dark future; During E3, in 2002 Marek from adventuregamers.com had a chance to ask Tom Sarris from lucas arts about the future of monkey island. "They are definitely going to make Monkey Island 5 since it is their most popular franchise. However, we shouldn't expect it in the near future". When is this "not in the near future" time frame? At least 2015... maybe. Don't hold your breath? I definitely am! If you have the time or the want, i urge you to read the story line from wikipedia of the monkey island games, they really are great. Its got pirates, zombies, ghosts, voodoo ladies, lost treasure and a secret so big it hasn't been revealed yet, but its all soaked in sarcasm and humor that is genuinely funny, it really does have everything.
I want to leave you with a scene from monkey island 2, it is personally one of my favorite scenes: Guybrush (the main character) has a bad spill, bumps his head and has a rather odd dream in which his parents make an appearance (as skeletons) and we see LeChuck (Guybrush's arch nemesis) as he appears for the whole of the second game, as a green rotting zombie. Just a side note - LeChuck starts off the series as a ghost, and somehow Guybrush kills him, then he comes back as a zombie in the second game, Guybrush then kills him again... this pattern repeats itself through out the series. ANYWAYS, here is the clip, enjoy!

Sleeping with the Bears

I don't know if anyone else goes through this around this time of year, around this type of weather, but its always like clock work for me, the need and want to camp. I guess it has alot to do with liking camping in the first place... but really, who doesn't? I guess you can not like the bugs and the dirt and all the other things that come hand in hand with being in the great out doors. But i guess thats the charm for me. Normally, im clean organized and planned individual, but i guess thats why i like camping, the dirt and bugs and dirt are gonna get you no matter what. But like i was saying, this time of year, when the sun is out, the snow is melting, and its starting to get ever so slightly warm, the urge takes control. I know exactly what im doing with my summer reading week, going to Algonquin with Tia, however, im horribly afraid of being eaten, mauled and raped by bears; Tia assures me it wont happen... but she is a hippy... whom i love very much =) I guess this means fixing the hole in my canoe as soon as possible. Heres to the sun killing the snow! cheers! 

Muppet Faces of Death

I remember when I was a kid growing up in Toronto, there was a Chinese video store across the street from where I lived. They had a few bootleg copies of Faces of Death for in the back that my friends and I used to rent, watch, and be horrified by... that must have been illegal seeing they were bootlegs AND we were all between the ages of 12 and 16. When I was just a little guy I loved (and still do love) Jim Henson and his Muppets. I know what your thinking; to rather odd memories from my youth to be grouped together... BUT I found this amazing video that does just that.



PEACE! MISS PIGGY! PEACE!

World War Z On The Big Screen

Back in September of 2006 Max Brooks' follow up to The Zombie Survival Guide was released. In short, its a compilation of interviews conducted with the survivors of the class three world infection, or the Great Zombie War. It was an excellent read with lots of detail and enormous amount of re-readability. Before the book was even released there was a bidding war over the right for the film adaptation of the book. The two movie houses in the bidding war were Brad Pitt's company and Leonardo DiCaprio's company. Ultimately, Plan B Entertainment, owned by Brad Pitt, won. The movie has reportedly had a large six figure sum allocated to it for production costs. This book has great potential to be translated to film. The screen play has been written already by J. Michael Straczynski(Babylon 5) but so far no director has been named. I personally hope that Max Brooks has a large part to play in production and post production of this movie; he knows he zombie stuff. On IMDB, the release date is scheduled for sometime this year, but without a director tacked to the project I think we'll be lucky to see this movie by Christmas 2009.

How I Got My Jedi Powers.

So I spent the last weekend free from school and work in Toronto with my girlfriend and my best friends. It started out with glow in the dark mini-putt, in which we kept no score, hit each others balls, threw our clubs around and more or less played hockey. After mini putt when then went back to Sheldon and Alex's house for a night of drinking and debauchery. Then the following morning, we all went to the Royal Ontario Museum, for some educational fun, and we took close to 400 pictures. Along with all the trips to Toronto and the copious amounts of alcohol consumed, Tia made it her week long mission to have me watch as many comedies as possible, seeing I lack the knowledge to quote certain movies when necessary. I must say Anchorman, was possibly one of the best movies I have seen in quite some time, however, its a shame the days when everyone quotes one of the many priceless lines have come and passed. I love carpet, I love desk, I love lamp. Im sorry, I ate your chocolate squirrel. I think reading week is quite possibly one of the most dangerous times of the school year, seeing I'm so used to sitting on my ass, drinking, and being lazy, and now its back to the grind stone... boooo! Well, its just about over, and class starts tomorrow morning and I'm so damn tired. Before I leave to recuperate for class tomorrow, I must leave you with a glimpse of my week, enjoy and may the force be with you.

Tenori-On is on my Christmas list.

I don't know if many of you remember a certain game that came out a few years ago for the Nintendo DS called Electroplankton. It was so damn awesome. The main idea of the game was to take control of different "plankton" who had a different musical sound, and technique. Through using them in different sequences and loops you could make a piece of music that could be changed and would evolve as you played with the different plankton. Honestly, hours of fun. Turns out the creator of the game, Toshio Iwai, also works for the Music and Human Interface Group. Toshio has developed a musical interface instrument that has allot of the same ideas and engines as Electroplankton had. Its called the Tenori-On and launched in London a few months ago. If your reading this, Santa Claus, please bring me one.

When Eagles Become Vultures

awesome band, awesome song, awesome song.

Castro Steps Down... And?

"It would be a betrayal to my conscience to accept a responsibility requiring more mobility and dedication than I am physically able to offer,". So Fidel Castro stepped down from power today, and not a whole lots of people care. No riots, no parades... I think everyone knows this has nothing to do with a regime change, just a new Castro to continue the old and ailing Castro's plans. I presume the powers that be in Cuba are going to stage an election, but don't go holding your breath. I doubt any of us will ever live to see democracy take a vacation in Cuba. Say hello to my little friend... and Fidels little brother, the next go to guy for Cuba.

Mr. Romero's Diary Off Limits

Soooooo, its been spanning over a year and a bit that I have been patiently waiting to see George A. Romero's latest and apperantly greatest zombie opus, Diary of the Dead. It preimered at the Toronto International Film Festival last September, to what was a more then welcoming crowd. The film got rave reviews and I have been chomping at the bit ever since. I tried to aquire tickets to see the screening, but I didn't have 300 plus dollars to do so. A year has gone by, and Feburary 15 (the release date) has come and passed and I STILL haven't seen the movie. The Weinstein I guess had forgotten that the movie was a limited release... so there is only one movie theater playing it within a 500 million mile radius of where I can go see it, and I'm quite sad about it. I hope this movie gets a huge amount of screen time and its distribution company realizes that its potential and is made more available to the public. Viva Zombie!

Read a goddamn book.

So this video has been floating around the net, and its been creating a whole lot of controversy. Apparently there are some really bad racial stereo types in it, but... the message is somewhat good?  Ha, I just don't know what to say about this, either then its mildly offensive and highly funny. Check it out.

Another day off

So our Premier has gone and given us another day off. This coming Monday will be Ontario's first family day, our newest statutory holiday... the ninth I believe. Family day has been recognized I believe by Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta already for a year and it looks like it might be catching on. 

Family Day, wonderful, spending time with the family, kicking back, relaxing, and an extra pinch on our wallets, tax wise.  I guess it all boils down to what is more important? If we expect to have an additional holiday added to our calendar were going to have to foot the bill.  Also, a lot of public workers don't qualify for this new holiday; contracts and job descriptions are being reworked.

I read an article where Dalton McGuinty sated he needs to "iron out a few wrinkles" in this new holiday. I guess it wasn't as easy as they thought it would be to slap a new holiday on the calendar? =)

Personally I think Family Day is a great idea and is totally worth the extra tax money, at least for those who plan on taking advantage of this new holiday and doing something that the name implies. I really think the whole family unit is going down the tubes lately, call me old fashioned by your family is your greatest allies. However, I think it would be hilarious if Family Day became the next big Hallmark holiday, and in a few years we were buying Family Day cards, Family Day candy, and watching Family Day television specials. 

Well, the first family day we are going to be having this year for me will be Homework Day, and then probably Drink Beer Day.

So whatever you decide to do with your shinny new holiday, do it to it, and get'er done.

HAPPY FAMILY DAY!           haha.

A quick side note, the name of my blog is The Y - Files, and thats in sequence with my friend Jesse's blog The Z - Files.

I thought it appropriate seeing during our senior year at CW Jeffery's we were always the last two on the attendance list (Yon and Zimmerman). 

When our teachers would call our names it would be the same time "Johnandjesse". If one was present and the other was absent we would probably both be marked present. 

Just a funny side note.