Yar Maties!

Well I saw Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End on the weekend and honestly I enjoyed it. Was it a great movie? No way, not at all. Did it look good? Yes it did. Did it have so many poorly or not at all explained double crosses? It sure as shit did. Honestly I'm still not sure who swerved who and when. But no matter if you've seen the other two you might as well go see this one, if for no other reason than pirate monkeys and pirate midgets. Is there a better combination?

Anyway The Filthy Critic has a rather amusing review (as are all of his reviews) of the film here if you're so inclined to check it out. If you liked that one you might want to check out his archives to see what Filthy thought about your favourite flick.

I'm running short on time here so I'll sign off with this last bit; it looks like the people at the Silver Snail (former place of employment of Toy Goddess Supreme, and former Space TV celebrity, Sarrah Young (scroll way down for her brief bio)) on lovely Queen Street West in beautiful downtown Toronto have created another amazing window display, this time using Muppets characters to recreate the Battle of Helm's Deep from the Lord of the Rings and aptly entitling it Ham's Deep. Here are some pictures if you care to check it out.

What do you think? How does it stack up to the Battle of Helm's Deep made out of candy that I posted a while back?

Anyway I'm outta here.

Love is what I got

It was on this very day in 1996 that Bradley Nowell, front man for the band Sublime, was found dead of a heroin overdose in a room at the Ocean View Motel in San Francisco. This fact along with a few good catchy radio friendly songs have guaranteed Sublime's popularity for a long time to come, they still get regular play on Winnipeg's Best Rock and I'm sure that's true for other rock stations around the globe.

By the way today is Towel Day, and event created to celebrate the life of author Douglas Adams, best know for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series (believe me the book was waaaaaaaaaay better than the Hollywood movie (although I did enjoy it, the great literal humour of the novel wasn't/couldn't be translated to the screen), even if it did have Zooey Deschanel in it, do yourself a favour and read it), and above all remember Don't Panic.

And now for something completely different; here's a sneek peek at the new Optimus Prime action figure from the good people over at RetroCrush. I have to agree that the figure looks good, not too far gone from the classic Optimus that I remember . . . will I buy any of the Transformers toys that are going to be re-released for a movie tie in? Probably not, I'm looking forward to the movie, I liked the comic and cartoon and the animated movie, but was never a Transformers collector . . . now Gobots, there's something that I might buy re-releases for, if only because they'll cost about $3 a piece if they hold true to the awesomeness of the originals.

Look it's a car that transforms into a car with the doors and hood open . .. . oooooooooooh aaaaaaaaaaaaah.

Anyway back to the Transformers movie, seems that Chevy has themselves some serious movie tie ins and not just having a 5th Generation Camaro featured in the film as Autobot Bumblebee, originally a VW Beetle, (I believe that a Ford Mustang is going to be a Decepticon, I think the one that used to be a tank, shit can't remember his name) there's also the Chevrolet Autobot Headquarters where you can create your own Autobot.

I'll sign off for today with one for the comic book geeks, here's a very good picture of the final/Mark III Iron Man armour suit from the upcoming movie, scheduled for a May 2, 2008 debut. Looks pretty bad ass eh?

And. I. Am. Outta. Here.

Just a quick one this morning . . .

As I'm flying to Kasabonika Lake for work on Wasaya Airlines this morning. I don't know why but the formatting went all wonky half way through my post yesterday, ah well let's hope it's not how things are going to be regular wise eh?

I'm sure some of you are not happy in your chosen professions, I mean what job is perfect? But in case you are thinking about snagging work under the golden arches here's some interview advice straight from Ronald McDonald himself to help you land that sweet McJob.

I told it was going to be short so I'll sign off with Bill Biggart's Final Exposures; Biggart was a photo-journalist who died under the rubble of the Twin Towers on 9/11, this website consists of the pictures that were on his cameras when they uncovered him. Pretty amazing really, something else that I'm sharing with you that I'm sure you'll want to share.

Anyway I'm off to Kas, don't miss me too hard.

Yaarrrrrrrrrrrrr Maties!

Did ye know that today be the 306th anniversary of the hanging execution than none other than Captain William Kidd in jolly olde London town? Although Kidd might have been more a Privateer than Pirate he was executed anyway and after the first attempt failed, the rope snapped, Kidd was brought right back to the gallows and the process repeated. After his death, Kidd's body was slathered in tar, chained up, and suspended over the River Thames where it remained for years as an example to others considering a life of piracy.

The dubious Captain Kidd is also strongly linked to the Oak Island Treasure down at the bottom of the Money Pit on Oak Island in Nova Scotia. All interesting stuff for sure, but will there ever be an answer as to what's at the bottom of the pit or who put it there? And one has to wonder how has been that with advanced techmology people haven't been able to get down the bottom of the pit that would have been dug by hand over 300 years ago? Just saying.

Anyway in something that's not pirate related at all, or at least not that I can tell, here are 15 Useless or Even Dangerous Eyesight Myths; all I can say is thank Gord for Myth #6, especially since it's still National Masturbation Month.

Here's a pretty spectacular website (okay the website isn't spectacular at all, but the subject matter is) entitled Running the Numbers An American Self-Portrait which features a series of photos by artist Chris Jordan that looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on. The pictures are pretty amazing, the sheer scale of them will blow your mind, I know it did mine. I'm sure that website is something that you'll want to share with others; I know I did.

Here's one for the wrasslin' fans out there; it seems that a few weekends ago at a sports convention in Edison, NJ The Ultimate Warrior and the Iron Sheik were there signing autographs. When Warrior saw Sheik, he demanded that Sheik leave, saying that Sheik had talked badly about him in the past. Sheik got upset and acted as if he was going to go after Warrior, but Warrior called security and the situation was resolved (Warrior got the Sheik removed by security) here's video footage of the altercation.

Admire the car wreck beauty of an old tough guy who can barely walk and wears a fanny pack (not that fanny for the Brits out there) and Zubaz pants out in public and a rambling self obsessed madman have a shouting match in the middle of a group of fans. My research (okay Googling) has turned up that Zubaz Pants are no longer made but baggy pants in many different patterns from Otomix or Crazee Wear are still available.

Here's a quote from the person who posted the video on line:

"This happened 5/6/07 at a New Jersey sports show. When I was in line to meet the Warrior, the Sheik approached him and tried to shake his hand. The Warrior refused and said, "I'm not shaking a hypocrite's hand. You went around telling people I was on drugs. Get out of my face". At this point, I pulled my trusty digital camera out of my pocket and filmed the encounter starting at that point. The Sheik goes nuts, even decking one of the promoters! I heard that Sheik attacked him again as he was attempting to hide behind a table. Security tried to confiscate my camera as I was leaving, but I headed out the door before the police came."

Well that's enough from the washed up wrasslin' set; now onto something else of interest. It's no secret that I'm a big fan of cover songs, love 'em I do, but the fine people over at RetroCrush have compiled what they believe to be the 100 Worst Cover Songs Ever. As always the RetroCrush articles are top shelf and this one has links to listen to many of the songs, although I have to wonder how complete this list is or how honestly bad these songs are. I have to ask because I don't recall seeing any Cheryl Crow covers on the list.

Now don't get me wrong I realise Cheryl Crow is a talented, and rather attractive, lady but her covers are the worst I can think of in recent memory; if you don't believe me re-watch the Johnny Cash tribute show that aired after his death and suffer through Cheryl warbling her way through a June Carter song, recall her flat out butchery of Guns N Roses' Sweet Child O' Mine or weak attempt at Led Zeppelin's D'Yer Mak'er from Encomium: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin album. But it's all relative isn't it? I'm sure there are several people who'd disagree with me . . . you know now I'm thinking that I might have seen Cheryl Crow live once in Winnipeg at one of the all day outside rock concerts, I wasn't there to see her, but I'm thinking she was on one of the bills, possibly an Edgefest? at the Assiniboia Downs with Hole headlining or at the Bomber's Stadium? . . . aahhhhh my rock and roll lifestyle; can anyone clear this one up for me?

And finally in the interest of cyber safety & security I will leave you with this compilation of the Ten Most Common Passwords; as the site says if you see yours on the list you may want to consider changing ASAP.

Until next time.

Excuse me I have to go to tend to the moose herd

Whether we're Canadian or not I'm sure we're all aware of the common misconceptions and stereotypes about being from Canada, thanks to you Bob & Doug MacKenzie . . . although I have found that most Canadians enjoy the misconceptions and stereotypes, after all what's so bad about being thought of as the big friendly, albeit cold, neighbour to the North of the USA who does the world's peace keeping all while driving snowmobiles or riding on a moose in a plaid 'bush' jacket while wearing a tuque on and with a two-four clutched in mittened hands?

I think it's fair to say that the one to get a Canadian's goat while abroad is to accuse them of being an American. It's happened to in England & Australia; although in Australia I politely said "Actually no I'm Canadian, you calling me an American is like me calling you a Kiwi." They got it, no offense to New Zealand, in fact after watching Grindhouse I'm all fanboy for Zoe Bell, the greatest hottest female Kiwi stunt person I know of it . . . although I don't think I'd let her drive my car, it's just how they feel over there.

Anyway I don't think that Canadians should take any of it too seriously, I mean how can we when Canadian MP for Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont Mike Lake has called for Bigfoot to be protected under Canada's species at risk act. Seriously, I think . . . you can read about it here if you don't believe me. This my friends is our tax dollars at work, but it's funny you got to admit . . . unless he was serious about it, then that's funny for a completely different reason.

I bring this because I rediscovered an article about Canadian misconceptions, both about ourselves and other countries, you can check it out here. It's about as good as anything else linked from the MSN page that comes up after I log out of Hotmail.

But what does it really matter? After the world is a small place, or so we keep hearing. If you're curious as to how the Earth stacks up in size to other celestial bodies you can go to this website here where they do just that. I thought it was cool, but I'm a geek.

The world might be small, but it's still hard to get around to see all of it; out of the 25 places/things that the Times Online have listed as the 25 Wonders of the World I've only seen one of them, but I am baffled how the barrier reef at Belize made the list and Australia's Great Barrier Reef didn't, granted I haven't been to Belize, but I can't imagine it being better than what I saw in Oz.

This one keeps going on and on don't it? Anyway only a couple more things to post for today; Saturday night I saw Spiderman 3 at the Sunset Drive In outside of lovely Shelbyville, Ontario. I've heard mixed reviews of the film and a lot people didn't care for it, but I have to honestly say that I enjoyed it all the way through, and the 'strut' scene was awesome (if you haven't seen the movie you'll know what I'm talking about as soon as it pops up on screen); in fact it made me want to be a better jerk.

And what about the Heroes season finale last night? I have to say that I liked it, but it didn't really feel like an end to me, and I'm a little disappointed with it . . . but not enough to give up on the show, I'm just thinking that there has to be a better way to stop an exploding man than exploding him in the upper atmosphere and was thinking that there'd be more of a showdown or battle at the end, but hey I didn't write it and I am eager to know who is worse than The Boogeyman.

No matter I'll be back in the fall for more Heroes action, and in the mean time maybe I'll bide my time with the gear from Heroes Webstore; and you can already pre-order the Season 1 DVD's.

And today I will leave you with my new favourite condiment, Bick's Hot Pepper Relish, you should try some, it's got some nice flavour to it. That's it, I'm outta here.

I'm Batman

I'm sure you've heard by now, but there's a new Batman movie, The Dark Knight, slated for a July 18, 2008 (hmmm might have to travel to the city for that one) release with Christian Bale returning to reprise his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman who will in this film face off against his greatest enemy, The Joker, being played by Heath Ledger.

The fine folks over at Ain't It Cool News have put up a short write up with a photo (supposedly the first on line and defo the first that I've seen) of Ledger's Joker. The write up and pic are here and the pic itself is here. I think he looks pretty awesome (in fact it's now my new Windows Wallpaper), good and scary and I think that bodes well for another dark Batman flick, which it should be when entitled the Dark Knight, don't you think?

In some non-Batman related news, did you know that May is National Masturbation Month? Neither did I until I read this article here; bet you had no idea you were being part of a national movement when you were fapping away, did you? Apparently May 7 was National Masturbation Day, I guess it missed that one . . . well I can honestly say that I didn't know was celebrating a holiday. Also as part of NMM the Centre for Sex & Culture in San Francisco (where else?) is hosting a masturbate-a-thon to raise money for its sex education programs.

And just in case you need some inspirational material to help you with the remainder of NMM here are some nice black and white photos of Rebecca Romijn shot for a La Perla advertisement.

In case NMM isn't your style but you're more into candy & star wars, and I know some of you are, here's your chance to combine the two rather nicely with this nice instructional tutorial on how to make your own Carbonite Han Solo in chocolate.

With summer on its way and the May 2-4 pretty much done gas prices are climbing everywhere, in fact regular is as high as $1.28 per litre here in town (in fact according to Ontario Gas Prices Sioux Lookout has the 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th most expensive gas in the province, although I know this not to be true because gas is a lot more expensive (in some cases 50 cents a litre more) in some of the remote fly in reserves north of Sioux Lookout), or at least it was yesterday, anyway everyone is pissing and moaning about the price gasoline now, and there's no better way to garner political support than to say that you will do something about or that something should be done about it.

Here's an article that comes by way of CTV about the high price of gasoline and a study that was carried out that says that Canadians are being gouged by as much 27 cents per litre at the pump and that something needs to be done about it.

Personally I believe that the price of gasoline is as high as it is because we keep paying for it; if we could reduce usage, buy less then the price should fall, but I don't see anyone driving any less, I know I haven't changed my driving habits and I have two vehicles each equipped with a nice small block Chevy V-8, because well there's no replacement for displacement. I don't think that not buying gasoline on one particular day or from one particular chain of gas bars will make any difference, sorry folks. If I don't fill up today, I'll do it tomorrow and if I don't buy gas from Petro, I'll buy it from Esso.

One thing I will bitch about is the cost of heating fuel, it's too high and my house is too big and not energy efficient enough so I use a fair bit of the stuff in the winter. Ah well what can you do eh?

Anyway enough pissing and moaning about the price of gas, what next the weather (which by the way is shite over here)? Here's something a whole lot cooler; it's no secret that I like to read and books often trade hands between my friends who read, but here's that taken to a whole new level, Book Crossing. I first heard about this from a friend's blog a while ago, and although I haven't played yet, I loves the idea.

Basically with this site you register a book on the website that you've read, then record the registration number in the book with other information about what is going and what the site/program are about, then 'release' the book somewhere, put the where and when on the website and the idea is someone finds the book, logs it back in, reads and then releases it into the wild again. I think it's a pretty cool idea, if for no other reason than you get to see where the books you release end up.

As of typing this there are 99 books in the wild in Winnipeg, 13 in Thunder Bay and zero in Sioux Lookout.

And don't forget to watch the season finale of Heroes tonight, gotta see how they wrap it all up and explain everything.

I'll sign off today with a cool YouTube video; someone has taken the time to edit together a video entitled 100 Movies, 100 Quotes, 100 Numbers, where basically they put together 100 quotes from movies each with a number in them in count down from 100 - 1. I thought it was cool and well worth the nine plus minutes it took to watch this. I can't imagine the amount of work that went into making this video . . . imagine the time put into watching movies just to get the count down list, let alone splicing all the clips together.

And I'm told I have too much time on my hands. Until next time.

Oh wait, one last thing, I'm using my new slow cooker for the first time today and am looking for good slow cooker recipes, send me your favourites if you have any. Especially if you have one for a good slow cooker curry.

Your Empire Needs You!

Man these are most definitely the best Star Wars t-shirts ever. You know you want to order some. Since we're rocking it Star Wars style, how about this website with free printable paper cut out models of your favourite Star Wars and Star Trek ships . . . but wait there's more, act now and get a bonus DeLorean model.

I've got to post this link for the newest Transformers movie trailer on line; man it looks good, hopefully it's got a bit of a story to back it the visuals. I have to say that the robots are still too complicated looking, the comic book/cartoon incarnations looked better to me, but maybe that's because it's what I'm used to? Either way I am looking forward to this film but I don't know that I'll be able to catch it on its July 4 release date.

Now from geek movies to geek TV; it seems that NBC is disappointed that the super terrific awesome show Heroes lost viewers during its six week layoff this season, so they've come up with a solution to the problem. Do you think it's as simple as running the whole season with out interruption?

No way, this article here says that NBC's answer to this delimna is to run a six week Heroes: Origins mini-series. I'll watch it, but shit don't you think my solution would have been easier and cheaper? I mean start the season late, end it early or a combination of the two . . . or hell if you're going to make a six episode mini-series based on the show, why not make the season six episodes longer?

I dunno, I'm no TV exec that's for sure, but I do have 30 years of TV viewing under my belt and I'd like to think I'm a little media savvy . . . a little, okay I'm no Marshall McLuhan but I haven't strapped on a blue cape and tried to fly off my roof either.

Since we're on a Heroes tangent here's a good interview with none other than Hiro Nakamura himself, Mr. Masi Oka.

From geek TV to another of my passions, cars. I regularly let people know that Miatas are girls' cars, many don't believe because they've seen guys drive them, but here's someone else who believes the same thing and took the time to put together a list of the top five girl cars. I don't totally agree with this list, but I do like its intent.

Personally, I think the Miata should be higher on the list, I think the only way you could get girlier than it is to paint your new VW Beetle pink with daisies . . . and sure, keep the Mustang on there, after all it was long regarded as a 'secretary's car' by car enthusiasts and Ford themselves (don't believe me? Read this or try googling 'Mustang Secretary's Car'), sorry Mustang guys, it's true. Wanna know what makes that worse? That was from a time when all secretaries were ladies, a little harder to feel tough now, eh?

Okay granted I drive a Camaro and of course that's a car that's long associated with mullets and greasy Ginos, not a perfect reputation by any stretch . . . but I can live with it. Hell I even a copy of song called 'Camaro Mullet Love' kicking around here somewhere along with the Dead Milkmen's 'Bitchin' Camaro'.

I know I just plugged it yesterday, but here's another article on the Bob & Doug McKenzie Two-Four Anniversary Special. Don't be a hoser and make sure you watch it, eh?

And I will sign off today with this totally awesome photo. I don't know the back story or anything, but if you care to make one up I'd love to read it . . . especially if it involves a sweet IROC or two.

It's been a long time comin'

It's been a good long while since I've posted anything on here, so I figured I best get back at it. I guess everyone is wondering what I've been up to since I've been so neglectful of this site . . . . well I've been to Kingfisher Lake & Kasabonika Lake for work, had a new window motor put in my car, went to Winnipeg to see Kataklysm, Unearth, DevilDriver & Dimmu Borgir (Unearth & DevilDriver were awesome, Kataklysm all right and Dimmu Borgir (one Norway's premiere black metal bands) was bunk, we walked out on them they were the headliners) at the Walker or should I say Burton Cummings Theatre, winning a new BBQ last weekend at a social (who says drinking doesn't pay?) and celebrating my second Smashaversary last night down at the Legion.

I don't normally use this forum as a soapbox but I wanted to draw your attention to this important petition that I recently signed: "Save the Sons of Butcher!"

I really think this is an important cause, and I'd like to encourage you to add your signature, too. It's free and takes less than a minute of your time. Thanks Buds.

In case you aren't familiar with the Sons of Butcher, it's a Canadian cartoon show about a three piece party/cock rock band from Steeltown, Ontario. It's some funny shit, I saw them play in Thunder Bay in the fall while they were out on their "Touring the Canada" tour; in fact they were filming from the shows across Canada and the show they made from the tour airs on Teletoon this weekend. You can click this link to get a short promo video with times and dates and rocking and what not.

Speaking of TV specials that air this weekend, don't miss Bob & Doug McKenzie's Two-four Anniversary Special and the airing of their hit film Strange Brew on the CBC Sunday night, you hosers. How can you not watch this? Bob & Doug are Canadian icons, and are probably the two people who are most responsible for shaping what most of the world thinks Canadians are really like . . . okay it might be stretching it a bit, but who hasn't been drinking beer, wearing a tuque while wearing plaid? I know I've done it, and I'll do it again so if you don't like it, just take off eh!

Those of you who are Bruce Campbell fans probably already know about this but there is a Bubba Ho-Tep prequel, Bubba Nosferatu and the Curse of the She-Vampires, being released sometime in 2008. This film finds Elvis (Campbell) shooting a film in Louisiana when he runs afoul of a coven of she-vampires . . . personally I can't wait for this movie to come out, I thought the first one was fantastic. It's not high cinema by any stretch but it's classic Campbell baby, yeah.

In case you haven't seen it yet, here's Bruce's latest Old Spice commerical; in this one he lounges Duran Duran's Hungry Like the Wolf (a great song in its own right) up for a bevy of swinging beauties. It's almost enough to make me an Old Spice man.

Well I think that's enough for today, I should go and get something productive done with my days off, don't you think?

How do you stop an exploding man?

Well I'm sure that question and others will be answered tonight and over the next three weeks on NBC's Heroes. Me I'm very curious as to how they are going to pull it all together . . . I've been liking the show a whole lot, but I have to admit the six week hiatus from new episodes was more than a little bullshit. I don't know why the networks feel they have to do this . . . start them late end them early, whatever just show them all the way through like my good friends over at BSG. If the show wasn't so addicting I'd give up on it for that . . . and don't think I can't . . . I stopped watching Star Trek Enterprise when I thought it got to be too much bullshit, but then again who didn't?

Although Stephen Lynch over at the NY Post is a harsher critic of the show, thinking that it's lifted major parts of its story elements from Alan Moore's Watchmen (which has supposed to be made into a movie that's been going into production for the past decade, now scheduled for a 2008 release) and Marvel's X-Men. You can read the article here if you like. If you haven't already read The Watchmen, you should it was a very good read . . . but I've probably said that before.

And since I briefly mentioned BSG here's a screencap of Leah Cairns, who plays the pilot Racetrack on the show, topless from an episode of CTV's Robson Arms. Gotta love Canadian television, eh?

And here's some good news for other migraine sufferers, a recent study has shown that migraines might be good for your brain. Yeah believe it or not in this study migraine sufferers showed less cognitive decline than non-sufferers as they aged. You can read an article on this here . . . and I'm pleased to hear this after being laid up yesterday afternoon with a vicious attack of brain pains.

And I would like to leave with this final note for the day, a big thank you to Alan from The Real Absinthe blog who stopped by last week to leave some comments and info after my brief mention of wormwood, Absinthe and removing body parts to impress your favourite whore.

For those of you who didn't read his comment, here it is (I put in the links, the info itself is from Alan's comment),

"Wormwood won't make you crazy. For you to absorb enough thujone (what you get when you distill wormwood) to do that, you'd have to drink so much absinthe you'd die many times from alcohol poisoning first.

Pernod absinthe, as carried by the LCBO, is real, but has a very low thujone content. Between the LCBO and Health Canada, they have a limit way below European or World Health Organisation guidelines. There are many other selling sites to look at: see my blog for details. Right now, Spirits Corner is the only one managing to sell real French/Swiss absinthe to Canadian customers."

Thank you for the information Alan, I'm sure it will be put to use sometime somewhere.

Until next time

One More Time

All right I'm going to try to put up a couple of the items that I lost in the crash yesterday, starting the Meowarchy. If you're into videos of evil cats and cats generally freaking out, this is for you.

From cats to something close it . . . here's the link lost yesterday for the video clip from last year's Tournament of Roses Rose Bowl where a USC cheerleader allegedly forgets to wear underpants, you get to see some bum there, but she's probably wearing a thong. You'll likely have to sign in to verify your a grown up because apparently the YouTube community feels that video has some questionable content.

Let's hope they don't discover X-Tube or BeastTube, eh? But I'm sure they'd be cool with GodTube.

And now here's the video I posted yesterday for my SUV driving friends, especially those with the magnetic ribbon stickers on them. If you liked that one, and why wouldn't you, you can check out more videos from the people who made that one, The Asylum Street Spankers, here.

Now if you're at all like me, you're not so pleased that Heroes on NBC overlaps on the first hour of RAW on the Score. Well fret no longer, I discovered quite by accident this past Monday that the Global Station from the Maritimes shows Heroes at 7:00 in the Central Time Zone. There is also one of the stations that shows the new Heroes the Sunday night before NBC does, but for some reason I prefer my Heroes on Monday.

Well that about does it for yesterday's lost stuff, now for a little bit of new info for you all . . . history time - it was on this day in 1933 that Herman Goering founded the Geheime Staatspolizei aka The Gestapo. Originally the purpose of the "Secret State Police" was to disrupt and harass opponents of National Socialism, but as is so common as time past it came to take on many other more, albeit dubious, responsibilities.

And it was 21 years ago today that the explosion/meltdown of the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Republic the Ukraine took place during a late night test or experiment. I just learned this today but apparently the Ukranian word chornobyl means "wormwood." This fact prompted believers in Biblical prophecy to interpret the nuclear crisis as the fulfillment of events described in Revelation 8:11.

Wormwood is a key ingredient to the make you crazy, cut off your ear to impress a prostitute, (allegedly) crippling hangover giving liquor Absinthe. If you're keen on trying to order some of the real deal from Europe (I'm still not convinced that the gear they carry at the LCBO is the real deal, but maybe it is? This site seems to say it's legit, or as legit as it can be) my good friends at Modern Drunkard Magazine recommend the fine people at Absinthe Original.

Well that's her for now, until next time.

Ahhhh hell

I was almost through a lengthy post this morning and the browser crashed on me, so I lost it all . . . think of all the awesome you missed out on . . . maybe forever . . . man I had videos of angry cats, information about watching Heroes on Global Maritimes so you didn't have to miss the first hour of RAW.

Soooo-oh awesome.

Too bad that.

And in case you think I havne't changed the currently listening too I'm listening to the Silversun Pickups record again, the singer has a kinda creepy voice, you'd think he was a lady listening to him most of the time. Their single Lazy Eye is getting radio play on Winnipeg's Best Rock, Power 97 if you're so inclined to check it out.

I'm outta here

Who needs a Kwick-E-Mart?

As I'm sure you're all aware the Simpsons movie comes out in theatres this July 27 and as a promotional kick the movie company is converting some 7/11's into real Kwick-E-Marts, complete with Squishees, KrustyO's and Buzz Cola. Too bad the one in Shelbyville likely won't be one of the ones to change.

I will go see the Simpsons movie when it comes to town, but I'm not eagerly awaiting it . . . I haven't been a regular Simpsons viewer in a number of years and I have the feeling that much like the X-Files the theatrical movie will be the series death knell . . . but I could be wrong. Personally I'd rather see Futurama on the air again, but that's just me.

To shift gears from the animated to the geekified, check out this Darth Vader hot air balloon. The dork is definitely strong in this one.

And now I will leave you with the Jacksonville, Florida mullet contest winner nine year old Dakota Russ. Jeez . . . nine years old, so many questions . . . where are the parents? Doesn't a mullet like that count as child abuse? How awesome is his Dad's mullet? How many tassles are on his Mum's jacket? Hard to believe but the award was handed out at a monster truck rally.

That reminds of a favourite website from days past, Mullets Galore.

Fear the mullet.

Yarrrrrrrrrrrrr Maties!

For those of you who can't get enough of all things piratical then CBS' upcoming new reality show Pirate Master could be for you. You can read all about it here if you're so inclined; if you don't you might get keelhauled. This is one reality show that I might give a chance . . . but we'll see, will the coolness of pirates balance out the lameness of reality TV? Only time will tell.

And just in case you thought pirates were a thing of the past, authorities are currently having problems with pirates in the Mallacca Strait, between West Malaysia and Sumatra, you can read more about it here. And here I learn this just as I am considering going to Malaysia on holiday.

It's been a while since I posted some movie news, or anything for that matter, so let's get to it. According to this article it's time to fire up the Orgasmatron again; Kate Beckinsale is going to be the one to play Barbarella in the remake of the 1968 classic erotic sci-fi comedy starring Jane Fonda. I tried to check IMDB to see if they had news about it but they want me to sign up for an IMDB Pro account to get at the info . . . they better not start doing that for everything or I'll take my business elsewhere . . . where it's still free . . . I might have to start slumming at AllMovie again.

There is also a remake of Clash of the Titans scheduled for release in 2010. I tried for info about it on IMDB but was again hit with the ultimatum of the IMDB Pro account. Even though the effects were cutting edge from the 60's I loved that movie to death, and if I see it on TV now I will still watch it . . . at least for a little while. Here's the IMDB page for the 1981 original in case you're not familiar with the movie, and if you're not I guess you didn't have TBS on your cable package . . . and since I mentioned it, I don't like the 'new' TBS.

When all they were about was 7 day James Bond movie marathons, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns, edited to shit 80's teen comedy movies and Georgia Championship Wrestling I was all for them, but now they're just showing sit com reruns and modern romantic comedy dreck movies. Boo-urns to that..

And I'd like to leave with a big up yours to all the smug Mac users out there as apparently Apple has released a megapatch that is to correct 25 of the invulnerable Mac's vulnerabilities. To quote the always great Nelson Muntz "HA HA!"

And with that I bid you good day.

So it goes . . .

You're probably aware of it by now, but yesterday one of the great American authors Kurt Vonnegut died at the age of 84. You can check out the International Herald Tribune's obit article here if you like. I've only read a couple of his books, but I like them a lot. His writing was unique, one line paragraphs, trippy names, dark dark humour at times and the occasional poorly drawn asshole.

Mr. Kilgore Trout you will be missed.

Now this is something that I had to share, when speaking to a friend last night I learned of Icelandic witchcraft and their strange strange practices . . . one especially scary bit of this are Necropants (Nábrókarstafur). The following is lifted right from a website on the topic:

"These were made with the intact skin of the lower part of the human body, dug up from a church yard. When worn they will become undistinguishable from one's own skin. The stave should be kept in the scrotum along with a coin stolen from a poor widow. Money will then constantly be drawn into the scrotum"

The stave mentioned in that quote is a magical rune or symbol, you can read more about them and see some examples of them here. And just in case you're wondering what a pair of necropants looks like, you can see them here . . . but once you see them you can't unsee them.

I read a little bit on that web page last night and it seems that grave robbing is an important part of Icelandic magic . . . I guess there wasn't much else exciting to do in Iceland hundreds of years ago, eh? But there's a lot of cool stuff to do there now, at least according to their tourism website there is . . . I wonder if they mention hanging out with Bjork on there?

And now for something completely different; I'm sure we're all familiar with the Black Eyed Peas song "My Humps" by now, well apparently Alanis Morisette liked the song a lot too (because who doesn't want to know what you're going to do with all that junk, all that junk inside your trunk) because Fergie liked the video so much she sent Alanis an ass shaped cake . . . but I can't find the link to that now.

As creepy as Alanis' My Humps was, it doesn't come close to out creepying Tori Amos' cover of Slayer's Raining Blood, you can check it out here if you dare! In case you want to compare, here's the original live in concert.

Well I think that's enough for today, until next time.

Has he lost his mind?

Can he see or is he blind? For those of you who don't know there's an Iron Man movie coming out in 2008, starring Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man/Tony Stark. I think that he has the ability to pull off Stark's pomposity quite well but that leaves the question will he have Stark's goatee?

And this is supposedly the first pic online of him in his gray suit. Either way it's the first one I've seen. What I see looks cool, but it's kinda dark and shadowy . . . but maybe the colours aren't set right on my home computer?

Did you know that today is the 47th anniversary of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin being the first man in space, aboard Vostok I. Could you imagine how terrify and exciting something like that would be? Literally you going out into the final frontier where no man had gone before . . . although in the Soviet USSR the consequences of not accepting the job were probably just as terrifying.

It was also today in 1995 that in honour of David Letterman's 49th birthday Drew Barrymore climbed on top of his desk on the Late Show (it was the best funniest thing on in that time slot at that time . . . this was well before The Daily Show with Jon Stewart or the Colbert Report or Tripping the Rift reruns on Teletoon) and flashed her boobs at him. I was actually a regular viewer of the Late Show at that time and saw that episode and it was a big deal at the time . . . I mean it was long before you just do a Google Image Search and end up with loads of pics of Miss Barrymore in various stages of undress whenever you want.

Since we're talking history here, it was yesterday in 1890 none other than Joseph Merrick, aka the Elephant Man, died. If you haven't seen the movie it's pretty good, even if it does refer to Merrick as John not Joseph, and it seems that the History Channel reruns it every now and again, but most often late at night. Maybe one of these days I'll read Sir Frederick Treves', surgeon & friend of the Elephant Man, book that the movie was based on, just to see how it stacks up for authenticity.

Here's something that might not be cutting edge news now, but since we're all interested in saving the planet and saving energy or at least saving money we've been switching over to compact fluorescent light bulbs, aka CFL's not to be confused with the CFL, in place of the old school incandescents here's an ESA (the Ontario Electrical Safety Authority) Product Safety Alert regarding end of life failure of CFL's. No need to panic yet . . . just don't eat the bulbs; their ballasts have mercury in them and I don't mean a little piece of Freddie, baby.

I'm Audi 5000, later

Free Yourself From the Easter Bunny

If you're one of those strange strange people who can't get enough of the Cadbury Easter Creme Eggs and wish they weren't just available at Easter time well wish no longer. You can now go here to get some step by step directions to build your very own giant Easter creme egg. Just the thought of it has almost put me into a diabetic coma.

And now a little something for the wrasslin' fans out there; check out this YouTube video of various pro wrestling stars talk about the Ultimate Warrior's erratic and nonsensical interview and promo skills. Man when I was a kid I just thought that the Warrior's promos were awesome . . . goes to show what I knew eh? In other Warrior related news he has legally changed his name from Jim Hellwig to Warrior Warrior . . . and apparently it's not just because he's a lunatic, there was some business reasoning behind it as well; by legally changing his name to wrestling name he could continue to use the gimmick to make money despite WWe/F's claims to the rights . . . or something like that.

And here's for the pro wrestling/MMA fans; according to this article former pro wrestler, and current MMA fighter, Sean O'Haire was involved in a fight outside a bar and ended up on the losing end of the deal with a broken orbital bone and skull fractures. Doesn't bode well for his shoot fighting skills, but maybe he was hammered or something.

So in honour of wrestling gone wrong, here's a video compilation of a bunch of blown spots, a rather cringe worthy video if I ever saw one , , , although this might be the ultimate make you cringe wrestling video, or at least the worst that I can think of.

Here's some good news for horror film fans; the trailer for the Rob Zombie directed remake of John Carpenter's Hallowe'en, starring starring none other than our little Droogie Alex (aka Malcolm McDowell) as Dr Loomis and the ever lovely Sheri Moon as Deborah Myers (Mike's mum if I remember right), is online here if you want to check it out. I don't know if this remake was really necesarry, I watched the original this past Hallowe'en and it's as good as it ever was, but damn if Zombie's other two films (House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects) weren't fantastic so I'm going into this one with high hopes . . . I just have to wonder why release Hallowe'en in August? Is an October 31st release date too much?

Also the trailer for the sequel to 28 Days Later titled 28 Weeks Later, is online here. 28 Weeks Later obviously takes place 28 weeks after the zombie disease outbreak that wipes out most of the humanity, or at least the UK, in 28 Days Later. I thought that the first one was a topshelf film and way better than your average Zombie Flick so I'll defo be checking this one out sometime . . . and depending on when/if our local theatre reopens well past the May 11 release date.

Since we're talking movies, here's a compilation complete with clips of the ten best car chases in movie history; all I really have to say about that is I completely agree with their number one pick and if they would have done differently I either would have ranted about it, or not posted the link. I haven't seen the original Gone in 60 Seconds, so that's one I'd like to viddy for sure . . . I mean how can you pull off a 40 minute car chase? Maybe after watching it I'd change my mind about the greatest movie car chase?

Speaking of car chases, the new tires for my car are in . . . now I just need the rest of the snow to melt and the salt and sand to washed off the roads and I'm back to rolling in style.

Later.

Where Do Bad Folks Go When They Die?

Well I can't believe it; I had completely forgotten that last Thursday (April 5th) was the 13th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's suicide by shotgun until I had heard it on the radio later that day (Cobain was found by an Electrician on April 8, 2004) and I had also forgotten that it was the 5th anniversary of Layne Staley's overdose by heroin.

I guess I'll have to hang up Doc Martens and leave the plaid behind now, eh? That's all right, I was going to buy some Blundstones instead anyway.

Since yesterday was Easter (the 1974th anniversary (I think??) of Jesus' rising from his tomb . . . according to the Christians anyway) here's an article about an ad I came across that is all about how no one knows the true meaning of Easter anymore . . . not even the person who wrote the ad in question. Looks like we all the preachings of Charlie Brown to come and teach what Easter is all about.

And did you know that the English name, "Easter", and the German, "Ostern", derive from Eostre the name of Germanic Goddess of the Dawn? I didn't until I skimmed that Wiki article on Easter. More Church yoinking Pagan bits and pieces to make the transition from Pagan to Christian a little less painful . . . although you'd think the offer of not being burnt at stake would be enough, wouldn't you?

And now for something that will please the 'Tobans, and no I don't mean this link to the video of the guy using one of the potted trees at Square One in Winnipeg for a toilet that I referenced earlier, but it seems that Manitoba is one step closer to having a February stat holiday like Alberta or the Skatch. I'm all for getting more paid days off, but I don't know if this one will rub off on Ontario or not. But I bet if one of the Parties were to put this as a part of their campaign platform in the next election they'd do really well . . . . and if they ran with that and said they were going to lower gasoline and liquor prices they'd be voted in by a huge land slide.

And for something that will no doubt make the 'Tobans not so happy, looks like Selkirk is flooding, or it was on last Thursday anyway . . . . there has to be a lesson learned here somewhere, if only I could figure it out.

And now I will leave with some pictures of Britney that prove to the world that I'm not the only one who should eat with their shirt off.

Until next time, you stay classy San Diego.

Can't think of title

Well I've got some less than stellar news for movie fans; A Christmas Story (one of the best Chrimbo movies ever, and this is coming from a guy who's not a big fan of the holiday) and Porky's (still the highest-grossing Canadian film of all time in domestic box office when inflation to current dollar values are taken into consideration) director Bob Clark and his son were killed in a car crash on the Pacific Coast Highway early yesterday (that'd be Wednesday) morning.

But enough of the sad movie news, how about some more Transformers movie information? There's going to be a series of comic books coming out before the movie to build up the back story behind the film. You can read a review of issue 1 here.

And from the you probably didn't want to know files; sometimes I think that Marilyn Manson and I have similar tastes in women, at least on a like to look at level anyway. You see he was with Rose McGowan at one point, who I thought was really good looking before I saw some recent pictures of her after her being on the Nicole Ritchie smokes and coke diet . . . then recently pin up model/burlesque performer Dita Von Teese gave him the heave ho for something or other. Most of the pictures of Dita I've seen have been very good ones, and here's her Penthouse pictorial, but I don't think she looks as good in these as when she's all pinupped up, if you know what I mean? I like this one, very Bettie Page-esque.

Anyway it probably doesn't matter, I'll like not meet either of them and they've both got to be bat shit crazy . . . or so I'd think, after all they did sleep with Marilyn Manson.

One last bit, did you know I'm destined to rule the world? Well according to this quiz I am, are you?

You Are Destined to Rule the World

You have the makings of a very evil dictator...Which is both kind of cool and kind of scary!Will you rule the world? Maybe. Maybe not.But at least you know that you could.

Best be nice to me just in case, eh?