Thank Christ They Didn't Win or I Feel Bad for Murray

Well, it was election night last night and it sure proved to be an interesting one. I was extremely worried that the Conservatives would win and we would be shoved back 30 years as a country. Steven Harper's views on the Charter of Rights, the Supreme Court, Health Care, etc all were FAR too American and right of centre for the kind of country, I think, most Canadians want and deserve. The issue that made it so close was the insane corruption of the incumbent liberals. I wish that more media had focused more on the 3rd real option, the NDP, as I feel that they had the best platform and the best ideas for Canada. If they had received a little more serious coverage, then the result could;ve been different. The story was portrayed as a choice between Martin and Harper, and I feel that doing so limited the real debate on issues and relegated the campaign to scare tactics and fear mongering. When people feel that their only way to punish the liberals is to vote for a lunatic right wing party, there is something really wrong with the system. Most Canadians do not feel that restricting and reducing our rights, infringing on those of the minorities, gutting the health care system, cutting taxes, pussying up to the U.S. are good for the country. In fact, most Canadians are opposed to those ideas... the problem was the they were also pissed at the liberals who had become corrupt and arrogant. Seriously though, there WAS a third choice. Let's not allow our system to unofficially morph into that of the U.S. Look into the NDP a little and you will see a system of great ideas... Well... for NEXT time. That might come sooner than later, as minority governments, on average, last for a year or so...
While the result: liberal minority, increased NDP presence, was good enough, I feel really bad for Glen Murray. Our kick ass former mayor who stepped down to run federally was defeated by a (by inside accounts) jerk-off of a con, Steven Fletcher. While, I personally do not have proof, I have been given inside reports of the scummy personality and willingness to manipulate others of the Con candidate who beat Murray. On the other hand, he IS a paraplegic, so it was nice to see a "differently abled" dude hold his own against those with the ability to jog. Still though... I think Murray was a great guy and would have represented Winnipeg well. On that topic... I wanted to vote NDP this time, but saw the close race between Murray and Fletcher and voted Liberal. I wanted Murray to win, even though my heart was with the NDP. Oh well, that didn't really work...
I just picked up some goodies from FS and they include: The Classic Spiderman collection from the 60's on DVD, South Park Season 4, the Metric album, and the Sam Roberts album. I wanted Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 2, but it was FOR THE THIRD TIME sold out... I guess I'll have to make do.

Sunday Sunday Sunday or Blackjack Mulligan

So Friday night I ended up hanging out with Lee watching the 80's classic "Back to the Beach" and eating Junior's. I had forgotten how odd BTTB was. As Lee put it, "it was totally ahead of its time, kind of like the Brady Bunch movie in that it made fun of the characters by putting them in current situations unchanged from thier previous incarnations" ...well maybe he didn't put it QUITE like that, but still it has the jist of it intact. Either way, the movie was fun and non-sensical.
Saturday, after work, I went to the McPhillips casino with Ryan, Tina, Andrew, and Brian. We all tried our hands at slots and Blackjack. I sucked ass at slots, mostly due to the fact that the ones there were so weird. I just wanted simple poker or 3 row slots, not these crazy 5 row, diagonals, cartoon things. I made money and came out ahead in the end through the Blackjack table. All in all, accounting for previous losses, I won 16$. I'm sure I could've done better if I stayed in longer, but I wasn't really all the in to it. Maybe next time.
I am trying to organize an outing tonight to see "Farenheit 9/11" as I really want to check it out. I like Micheal Moore's stuff so... Oh yeah, on the subject of Moore, I read something in the paper about a guy who wrote a book called "Micheal Moore is a big fat stupid liar" has a movie coming out about him, and runs a website called "micheal moore hate america." It's insanely clear that he has issues with the guy. Although he denies having any republican leanings, I think it's pretty obvious that much of his hatred comes from being on the opposite end of the political spectrum. Seriously, while sometimes insinuating things, Moore has yet to have something in his movies or books PROOVEN untrue and that is due to the dilligent fact checking the companies that release his stuff go through. Yes, I know that he can sometimes omit things that cause people to assume a certain idea, but he never SAYS that idea. He is very careful with his work. If people assume something, well, that's their own issue. Remember, "When you assume, you make an ass out of U and Me." :)

80's Night or Dancing All Night

Still nursing a fairly strong buzz (2 beer and 2 shots of Tequila... I guess I'm a lightweight) this post might proove difficult both to write and to read. I just got back from 80's night at the Die Machine in the Village. Dave and I decided to check it out and we weren't dissappointed. It rocked. Great tunes, hot babes, cheap booze, and dancing, dancing, dancing! I had a great time rocking out on the floor impressing all the ladies... For no other reason than to do so, I gave 2 girls compliments. One girl (who had a kick ass mullet happening) I told her that she had awesome hair, and another I told was gorgeous. I hope that it brightened up each of their days a little. I wore one of my kick ass jacket/shirts from Montreal and got plenty of compliments. The back (that I couldn't really read before) just might be spanish for "Tequila." We stayed until the end (2 am) and are totally going to go next week. Although we will try to get Lee out, as the scene was totally his thing.
Just recently having finished "Conversations with God" I've been in good moods. Maybe the message of the book had affected me, but I feel much better than I had in recent times. The whole "Life is about experience" and "God gave us free will in order to LIVE" and "There is no "wrong" choice, only the path to self-knowledge" message seems to really mesh with what I had felt previous. If there is indeed a God, I'd prefer it were the one in this book, as it meshes with what seems to brew naturally within me and has a positive message for life. It's weird... 2 summers ago it was Oriental Philosophy, last summer it was politics, and this summer its metaphysics that I'm heavily reading... Odd?
This drunken state requires sleep to fix...

Oops, I Forgot to Update or Back in Town

So here I am back in the Peg and just chillin' and workin' when I think to myself... "self, you forgot to update!" so then I go over to the PC and start to type this here message.
What has happened since Montreal:
Thursday: My plane was late so I ended up being 1 hour late to work. My mom could not pick me up post work, so she arranged for Rob to do so. (It seemed suspiciously like a play date). Anyway, Rob had never seen "Bowling for Columbine" so we watched that.
Friday: After work I went bowling with Ryan, Rob, Tina, Andrew, and Dave. Matt, Jon, and Niziol came but would not bowl. (Why would you come to a bowling alley with no intentions to bowl?) Either way, the place was EMPTY and I bowled like shit. Eating at Boston Pizza after did little to change that.
Saturday: After work I went with Ryan, Tina, and Andrew to Kevin Solome's bbq where I proceeded to eat a lot and get a touch drunk. We watched Office Space and the end of the first Don Cherry's Rock em Sock em. I wanted to watch the whole thing but it was not rewound. I mean it was from the 88-89 season... almost ancient history in hockey terms. I really wanted to see the old stuff, like the original Kings jersey, the old Jets, the powerhouse Oilers... oh well, maybe I'll buy it on ebay.
Sunday: Went to my brothers sweet ass house for Father's Day dinner which he burned. He ended up having to buy Chicken Delight. My brother's house is so big and will rock ass when it's done... One thing I noticed is how EVERYONE was talking to the baby (my new niece Ella) in baby talk... I could've sworn that I heard somewhere not to do that.... oh well... what the hell do I know about babies?
All in all, I've been busy and have had no time to sit down. Well... other than the time I spent bidding on old comedy records on ebay. Sam Kinison, Steve Martin, Bob Newhart, Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy... soon they will be mine... Oh yeah, and I dropped off my record player to get fixed so that I can actually LISTEN to the things!
Crap... I have to go to the dentist now... later!

More of Montreal or Coming Home Tomorrow

So I would say that for the most part, I've done a good job of seeing things here, although I could've probably done more...
During Jay, Tyler, and Derek's second and third shows I did some things on my own. These included: walking ALL the way down St.Laurent to the old city and port (which took about an hour), checking out some churches (including the Uber-impressive Notre Dame, that we SNUCK into!), and seeing "The Chronicles of Riddick" and the theatre in the old forum. Man that was a kick ass theatre, it was HUGE with something like 30 screens and a bunch of stores. When I saw Riddick the machine did not print out my ticket and I was sent to the next terminal where the worker wanted my to pay again. Upon telling him that I'd already paid, he flipped out and the guy who helped me originally said that he'd given me my money back. I told him that he'd given me my CHANGE and he acted all like I was trying to screw him over. In the end I saw the movie and was supremely disappointed... I had high hopes and they were dashed. Vin Diesel is a terrible actor and can only pull off action. The action lines were awful and things were not dealt with enough. All in all it was more like "the Chronicles of SHIT-tock" Ha! Ha! Ha!
We saw 1/2 of an Expos game today, mostly to say that we saw one and to get a photo of Jay with the mascot. Baseball is SOOOOO boring and I hate it, but oh well..
I got some sweet vintage clothes today and some records. I hope to buy this kick ass cd/record/tape/radio player thing we saw at Future Shop that was all Teak wood and bronze shit. It was SUPER cool. The record store we were at had some sweet funk and lounge albums but wanted a little too much for them. I'll just try to find 'em cheaper on ebay or at home.
Final Thoughts: the old city was so much like walking into a time warp it was cool. Saint Catherine's was a disappointment, Mount Royal was awesome, the churches were super awesome, the poutine was pretty good, baseball is boring, triplexes are the wave of the future, the forum was neato... I had a good time.

In Montreal or It's So Different!

Ok, so here I am in the city of.... what's the nickname for this place??? Oh well.. It's Montreal anyway. The city is like one huge Osbourne village or exchange district. Full of old timey buildings and nice atmosphere. Thus far it's been fun but not without SOME disappointment. I arrived Friday after a turbulence filled flight on Westjet. Soon after arriving we went to a little diner and had smoked meat sandwiches (a local delicacy). That night we also checked out a fringe show from a heavily hyped troupe from the Second City in Toronto. They were called the Imponderables and I thought they were very sub par. With newspaper reviews calling them the "next kids in the hall" I was very disappointed. Everything they did was one joke gags and went on too long. It was way too safe and common to be really funny or edgy. Between sketches they would dance and throw furniture in the dark for the set ups... It was more stupid than anything... I might be being a little harsh on them, they were good performers, only with garbage material...
Saturday was the first show for the guys (Jay, Derek, and Tyler) and they only had 1 person show up! They still put on a great show that put the Imponderables to shame. Derek and I ate at this place called Yanni's which was super good, but the waiter's treated us like dirt. Funny thing was they had switched our orders accidentally and we didn't realize till almost done. Good food, AWFUL service.
Today we went to Mount Royal and checked out this huge hippy party thing where everyone is playing drums, dancing and smoking pot. (not me!) I bought a chain and ring from street vendors. The one lady spoke incomprehensible french and I didn't know how much the ring was! I gave her a twenty and waited for change but none came... OH well... I guess it was 20$... At least it's cool... Derek and I hiked to the top to see the view and the cross. Got some nice photos. Afterwards we went to a place that had 9 cent wing night... yes NINE cent wing night... They also had 4 litre pitchers of beer for 25$. All in all it was a VERY economical meal.
There are 5 of us in a two bedroom apartment and it's a little odd. One bathroom complete with a stopped up shower drain kinda sucks... not too mention the amount of pooping Jay has been doing. 4 times in one day! He is also complaining about his feet as he got blisters and finds it painful to walk...
We've been trying to eat in some to save money. The IGA has provided us with nice Jamaican patties and hot dogs. Seriously though, Mozza on hot dogs RULES.
We went to see strippers last night due to the fact that lap dances and touching are legal and accepted here. I ended up not getting one as I felt bad about asking... I couldn't get the "objectifying women" thing out of my brain..... Maybe I'll try again, as there were some uber hot dancers there.
I hope to see some churches soon and check out the Museum ASAP as I hear it rules. Still have 3 more full days to do so. I will update more later as I want to get back out and do stuff now... Cya Thursday!

Past Lives or Countdown Montreal

So I received all of my order from Amazon.ca today. I ordered a bunch of used books on a wide variety of subjects. They include metaphysics, past lives, and wrestler autobiographies. The books were: "Listen You Pencil Neck Geeks: The Story of Classy Freddie Blassie", "Many Lives, Many Masters", "The Prophets Way", "You Have been Here Before" and "Conversations with God: An Uncommon Dialogue." I'e already read the Classy Freddie Blassie autobiography and was very impressed. I don't really know all that much about wrestling pre-1980's/1970's so to learn more about what it was like in the 1940's to 70's was really cool and interesting. I had no idea how much of a celebrity Blassie was either. He was single handedly responsible for making the career of Regis Philben in the 50's and 60's, he was also a God in Japan... then again so many foreign wrestlers are God's in Japan... like Vader... or Dr. Death... if those names don't mean anything to you, don't fret, they don't mean much to a whole shit load of people anyway... Anyway, to further explain how Blassie made Philben... when Regis started out in TV on cable access and small local stations, Blassie was an early guest. His segments were so popular and out of control that they made the shows hits. Regis eventually graduated to larger stations and took Blassie with him all the way to the top... well sort of... Either way, without Blassie, Regis would just be some schmoe on the street. I guess the world has Freddie to thank for the joy that is "Who Wants to be a Millionaire."
Right now I am devouring an other book called "You have been here before" about past life regression. I am not altogether sure where I stand on the subject so I figured doing some research/reading couldn't hurt. Thus far it has been interesting if a little cliched. The stories all deal with being murdered or finding a corpse or something of the like. It SEEMS like they helped the people deal with latent issues and/or problems buried deep in their subconscious. I'll have to read more to really form and opinion. While I am on the subject, I might as well mention something that I think may (if true) be a past life thingy from my life. Whenever I go over train tracks I shudder for an unknown and uncontrollable reason. I think that (if true) I might have been nailed by a train in a past life... then again maybe I just have a vivid imagination of being nailed by a train... Either way, I would be interested in finding out if some of my anxieties and issues stem from some sort of buried trauma... Then again, maybe I was just born all messed up and shit... not that I am messed up, for the most part I am fairly well adjusted but there are times...
Two more days until Montreal! Night life here I come!

Damn, They Almost had It or It Takes a While to Restore a Lost HD

Crap on a stick, the Flames lost... I had hoped that they could pull off the miracle season and win the cup but the Lightning were just too much in the end. I liked both teams, so I am not UNhappy with the outcome, but being Canadian I would have preferred Calgary to win... oh well, there is always next year... assuming there IS a next year, what with the impending lock out and all... It was nice to see Dave Andreychuck get a cup after 22 years. I remember him from my old hockey card collecting days in the early 90's. He was a common card from the Buffalo Sabres. It was fun watchin Martin St. Louis play, what with being able to say his name out loud Maaaarrrrrrtin Saint--LOOOOOOuie! (Phoenetically spelled..sort of) Then again, the bearded wild man from the mountain, Dave Lowry was awesome to watch too. Don't forget Jarome Iginla and Chris Simon (who had a package addressed to him come through Greyhound the other day). All in all it was a great time watching the payoffs, as per usual. This year was especially exciting, what with all the Canadian teams making it.
So it is taking forever to get back all the things I lost from my HD during the crash and burn. Some things are gone forever... like all my essays from university, my scripts, my resume, etc... while others can be replaced and re-installed... like my bookmarks and programs. I am peeved that I lost so much because my re-write of the college movie I wrote was coming along awesomely... I hope that I can duplicate or surpass its quality again... I really need to get back to working on that stuff... I've been procrastinating lately...
So Anna is back in town. I chatted with her for a bit on Messenger last night. If you don't recall the story of her, look in the archives at the beginning of the blog. I'll have to play it by ear to see if anything will develop this time or not... It would be nice to have someone to do things with again... it's been a while... Montreal in 4 days!!!!!!!!! Look out Quebec, here I come!

My Computer Died or There Goes My Money

My computer died on Tuesday/Wednesday (I don't remember...). Apparently the power supply just went and fried the hard drive and some of the ram. I lost EVERYTHING on my HD... I had scripts there, games, pics, movies, etc... It's all gone.... Oh well... Maybe this will get me off my ass with regards to doing some actual work and stuff. I had to plop down 200$ for the replacement parts and then another 120$ for a DVD burner. I figured it would be a wise investment in the long run. I kinda want to start to do commentary tracks for movies with my friends where we comment on what we are watching. I think that it would be awesome to listen to that stuff a few years down the road and see the kind of crap that we talked about when we were younger. It would be even better if the commentary was on my OWN movies, but that'll come later (I hope!)
Playing catch up now... I saw both "Supersize me" and "Harry Potter: POA" over the past few days. One I liked, the other not so much... can you guess which one? If you said "Supersize me" you'd be bang on! Harry Potter movies never really did anything for me but a good documentary is always a blast! I beat Star Wars: KOTOR which was hella awesome. But the biggest news of all is that I am going to Montreal for a week! I leave Friday and come back Thursday. It's gonna rule! I've never been that far east and am really looking forward to seeing the city... from what I hear, it's awesome. I can't wait! The best part is that I am staying with Jay, Tyler, Derek, and Kari as they do the Fringe there so I don't have to pay hotel costs... I am also using Air Miles to fly there so I don't have to pay travel costs... The whole trip is only costing me 130$ bucks! I still have to eat and amuse myself there though... From what I hear, the night life there is hella sweet. I will update some more later as I have to work a 6am tomorrow.... off to bed...

Sekiden or I Spent Too Much Money

So yesterday Lee calls me up wanting to go to see this band Sekiden at The Collective. Neither one of us had heard anything by them but he read that they were a synth-pop type band. With both of us being fans of that type of music we checked it out. Now Lee had no clue when the show started, but figured probably around 8pm. Picking him up at 6, we checked out CD Plus, Best Buy (to talk to his friend Zee), and Toys R Us. He spent money, I did not... although CD Plus had a used copy of Baldur's Gate 2: Dark Alliance for the Xbox there for 30$. I had a near filled stamp card that would've bagged me 10$ off that. Only needing one stamp I asked Lee to spot me one of his, but he got all indignant and stuff "I earned this stamp!" Not that I was really serious or anything but still! Zee sided with me on that one.
Anyway we then went to the village to go to the show. The doors were still locked at 8pm, so we checked out movie village for a while. 8:30 comes and the doors are still locked, so we go to the second cup and have some beverages. 9pm comes and a girl at the door (who was mega hot) tells us that they open at 9:30pm. By now I decide to go and buy that game. I first bought something cheap to get the stamp I needed then grabbed the game and saved 10$!! I walked out with a kick ass game and "ill and Ted's Excellent Adventure." That was only 12$. Still, I hadn't intended to buy ANYthing that day...
So we finally get to the show and grab a table. The first band was blah-ish. Of note was a barefoot guitarist who was really rocking out. The only problem I had was that he was rocking out "phony." He did all the requisite kicks and jumps and twirls and stumbles but it seemed fake. It wasn't in time with the tunes. In my opinion he was a huge poseur who had no real knowledge of "true" rocking out. But he did have energy... and poofy hair, so I give him minor props...
Sekiden was up next and totally blew the house down. They are from Australia and totally had the place jumping. The drummer was insane and possibly not all there, while the keyboardist chick had a good groove going on. The lead singer/guitarist was "truly" rocking out. They were so awesome, the audience demanded and encore... and they weren't even the headliners! After their set, me and Lee ran to a bank machine and each bought a copy of their CD. They were that good!
The headliners, Red Hot Rocket, I believe, were OK. A little generic for the most part. They had a couple of good tunes, but most of them kinda blended together.... Either way, Sekiden totally ruled the show. I give them my personal thumbs up!
After the rocking, I took Lee home and we talked a little politics. We seemed to disagree on the subject of inheritance taxes on large estates (over 1 million, I think) (an NDP proposal). He doesn't like them and I don't see any problem with them. I figure you're dead already, so who cares. He thought that it would be too easy to have 1 million dollars to leave with today's property values. I can see his point, but I also think that large inheritances are the exception not the norm. If it was highly common to see people leaving big ass inheritances then we'd have a different story. Still, you might as well tax the rich more so that nepotism can be curtailled a little more. Having money left to you requires no effort and only breeds laziness (for the uber rich). Just look at how Paris Hilton or Nicole Ritchie turned out... Spread it all around is what I feel. That doesn't mean you shouldn't be allowed to make money, you should... It's just that giving offspring a life of luxury only breeds in dis-respect and laziness. Everyone should have to work SOME in their lives, it builds character.
I'm off topic... Sekiden rules.