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!