Public Acts Of Idiocy

I immediately regret my decision

2011-11-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

I showed up to work today and there was free Timmy's for everyone. I am the only one in on my floor today so I felt I had to have a cup. I feel sick. I hate coffee.

Green Party

2011-11-11T19:02:00.000-08:00

It may be fall..um winter around here but everything happening is still green.

One day the grass looked like this

and the next day like this

Article One: The Riders are done. They played good for about 5 quarters the entire season and went from one of the elite to the worst. That's fun hearing people bitch about them and now games aren't even sold out. Amazing how people only do whats in that year. We'll see who our coach is next year and I hope they give some young pup a chance, they can't do any worse.

Article Two: We also currently had a provincial election. I had thought about blogging this before but actually waiting was worth it. As I drove around the city in the months previous to the election I noticed a lot of billboards up for unions that might as well have said "If you want your cushy job vote for the NDP." I couldn't help but think this must be tough on the current Saskatchewan government who are not the NDP.

Here's the tough pill to swallow scenario I kept thinking of. The government gives tax money to all their organizations that run our world. This money pays people to do a job that we need in order to make things go round and our way of life generally happy. These people in turn have no choice but to join a Union. Which means a chunk of their hard earned dollar goes to this said Union. Basically the worker is a middle man and the government could have just paid the Union to exist. The only difference is the that the middle man makes it legal and more seemingly like the Union is not self serving. (In actuality all Union mandate is self serving, so just paying them to exist could actually be the case, they could continue to do nothing but take money from Joe Taxpayer) Meanwhile that said government that paid this Union to exist gets bashed by the Union. Hmmmm...How does that saying go; don't bite the hand that feeds.

So the election passes and the current government who has done a decent job of keeping the province moving forward wins the election and by a lot(2007 38-20 SaskParty to NDP, 2011 49-9). Which brings me to a few things. Moving linear:

1.

Joseph Garcea, head of the political science department at the University of Saskatchewan, said Wall benefited from the temper of the times, with votes averse to taking political risks

"people get mad, but at the same time they get scared," he said.

"They get mad at governments for certain things they do, but they get scared of change. We live in volatile times and people are not sure that they want radical change."

Maybe Joseph people get pissed off there is so much turmoil in politics. When they see a party get a glimmer of a chance and it doesn’t really affect them they think oh this isn’t so bad lets create more change. This is what I call dummy politics, our day to day life won't change that drastically when ever a change happens. In order to retain our day to day lifestyles must not. governments realize this and that is why they set aside budgets to say clear snow when you get 10 inches overnight. Also statistically speaking parties have slow rises to apex and slow falls. Remember when the Liberal were in power in the 80's? Maybe more accurately Remember the Liberals?

2. The NDP based their stance on spending more money. Money that just magically appears and is dependent on hard goods that sell in a market, this day and age the markets been pretty reliable. Also I’d like to see potash revenue, billions?? That’s a lot not sure if they understand how much that is? Also Lingenfelter, I am by no means a SaskParty advocate but when the leader of the opposition is you, what choice to Saskatchewan people have. Your not a leader and you never were. No wonder you lost.

3. The day after the election the Premier announces that they would like to make Unions "more accountable" basically giving Union Members (if your keeping up the middle man) the ability to control how the Union spends their money. "We'll focus on serving the members of the unions just like we're focused on serving all the members of the province." Legislation could happen soon even this fall. With the 49-9 count I'm thinkin it should pass. Personally I like the move, if the Unions want to continue to serve themselves and advocate politically this is a big f@!k you! Where's your table slapping to that NDP.

4. I wonder how the Green Party exists? It takes money to run and they are persistent and haven't ever gotten a seat. Maybe they save so much on energy they can afford the next years election.

5. Day 2 after the election I am driving home and see this.

Now this could be completely unrelated but it seems like it is. Can't wait to see how this turns out. Oh yeah the small print at the bottom says "We'll see you in court November 14" Turns out our tax dollar is going to pay court fees that will be through the roof. I predict $100 000 that we will see no benefit from. All thanks to the union looking out for their people. Send thanks to COPE for money well spent.

6. I have still received no word from SOSCrowns where their funding comes from. Somehow I feel they are more concerned with other things than me right now. I wonder if they will make it through 2012.

7. I hope the Union Members speak and get public disclosure on Union staff Salaries. Doesn't seem fair that all government employees get their wages released and scrutinized yet Union leaders don't. In other words if you work a government job under a Union I have the right to know your wage yet I can't know the wage of who you forcefully donate money to. When our tax dollar go some where we should have the right to know about it. I'm not real impressed I help buy those billboards and the workers should be less so as it was money taken directly away from them.

Article Three: Before I forget, I was out and about today because of the day off. Watching my clock closely. they were talking about remembrance day on the radio and I was thinking "I wonder if the radio plays 2 min of silence at 11? And what am I going to do?" Turns out I was in Walmart. Again watching my time. I was getting all prepared to take my hat off and stand still when over the sound system an Walmart employee came on and did a nice speech and asked everyone to pay tribute with 2 min of silence. It was really nice to see Walmart go silent. Excluding the few people who only lasted about 30 seconds. It all made me feel a little more patriotic.

Well that was a long blog but its over. Things were kind of exciting around here.

If I Don't Make Time, I Don't Got Time

2011-10-31T16:41:00.000-07:00

I like think I coined this phrase a few months back, not sure if I ripped it off somewhere or not. If you have heard it before please let me know.

I said this once on a whim and at the time I thought it was a fairly good an accurate line. Now I'm just thinking that its pretty dam depressing. I say this because it is starting to dawn on me that I carry this from work to life. It seems I have to schedule time to do things with my daughter or with m lady friend. It seems I have to plan finances, nights out with the boys and juggle extra work. It gets more depressing when I realize I do this to myself. I like to think I am moving ahead but it just seems like I tack on more responsibilities and more commitment and in tune more time taken up.

I read a brief thing once on what people miss about their single life. One of the major things was spontaneity. The fact that being in a relationship takes away a spur of the moment ski trip or just the general feeling that you can do whatever you want when ever you want. I think this is fundamentally wrong. I don't feel my relationship has stopped these kinds of things I feel I have by becoming preoccupied with so much crap that doesn't matter.

Over the last few weeks I have been trying to just set aside time to write on this blog. I've neglected it as of late. But even if I am just writing about cooking fish it somehow relaxes me. I've taken the time for myself and no other time draining task has suffered that greatly. Sure I've got other things to do but you know what? If I don't make time to blog then I don't got time. There it is the sad reality full circle.

Chevy

2011-10-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

A lady I work closely with became a grandmother for the third time a few weeks back. The little man was born at 26 weeks. That's 14 weeks short of where one would like; it actually skips the entire third trimester. He weighed 1lb 6oz and was only 11 inches long. He spent exactly three weeks in an incubator until he was finally taken out for his parents to hold him for the first time. Sadly, it was would be the only time. His lungs collapsed and this was the last act of benevolence offered by the hospital staff.

I remember talking to my co-worker and the expression of deep concern she had when the expecting mother went in with some complications at week 25. She did not know what to expect; she had a lot of people telling her things and she didn't know what the answers were. I'm not sure there were any. Then a week later, under the guidance of physicians and complications becoming more complicated, Chevy was born.

The next day at work, there was a jolly lady across the cubical from me, stricken with bronchitis but still glowing. We had a long talk about everything and things seemed to be going quite well. She still hadn't seen him yet, because she was sick. Our boss who often gets a little dramatic, yelled, "What are you doing here? Go home and get rest so you can go see your little guy!" She reluctantly went to the doctor only to find out that the aforementioned "itis" had infected her and she did finally go home and get more rest.

The next week when she came back, we had another talk. She was finally well enough to see Chevy. So the proud grandparents made their first trip in to see the new family--actually a spot that lay vacant as the newly christened parents could only have a short list of visitors which extended no further than the grandparents on either side.

She told me about her experiences and they learned that Chevy gained an ounce and a half in weight which was very good news. Everything seemed fine with him and he was fighting through all that he had to. We started to talk about the experience of the whole thing. It’s strange to think of a baby that small. She said her other grandchild's doll was about the same size. It seemed so surreal. She talked about being allowed to put your hands into the incubator and that was it. She didn't want to because she didn't want to harm him, but she did. She talked about how aware he was, that they had to move his IV once because he was pulling on it. Then after they moved it, he just grasped like any other baby would react to something of comfort.

Every action and every word was delivered with a hint of hesitation, my responses mirrored. This was the first experience with such a thing for both of us. An entire conversation blanketed in misunderstanding, inexperience and curiosity. All the simplest things we often take for granted were slightly different but somehow made sense. While we tried to grasp the reality of the situation, the ambiance of the conversation was uplifting and full of optimism.

Another week goes by and many conversations. Chevy gains more weight and tops out at 1 pound 13 ounces. Things look really promising. Then without warning, Chevy finds himself in the hands of his parents for the first and last time.

Now I sit here finding myself extremely saddened. The only thing I can do is write and that doesn’t seem to serve any justice. I’m disappointed because I thought he was going to come through. I wanted him too, I still want him too. I’m disappointed that this amazing lady I work with and her family had to go through all this. I’m disappointed that life isn’t always fair.

I guess it is all still a little too fresh, I still don’t know quite what to say or to think. The entire time I couldn’t really grasp what was going on, and even now, all I can think is that I can’t imagine what the family is going through. I’d like to tell them that everything happens for a reason but right now that is not my belief. Instead, I can only offer what seems to be insignificant; my sincerest condolences go out to them.

Tuesday Night Fish Night 3: Experiment #264

2011-10-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

So right now you are likely asking yourself, "What's up with the bacon strips thing? Isn't this about fish?" Seriously, what is not up with Bacon Strips? They make everything better. Also seriously it will all come full circle. Even when it first dawns on you that the recipe has no bacon in it...although....

So for today's fish I went with the Sole, cause I got Sole. It's a fairly light tasting fillet that you can make taste like whatever you want. I found a recipe online that I am now going to call a fish lasagna. But if you google fish lasagna all you will find is lasagna with fish replacing some other meat. Not very impressive. Anyway here's the recipe I found that I didn't follow to a 'T' but I liked the idea. And by I found I mean my woman found and I still had to do the work. Shock.

Moving on, it turned out to be a fish lasagna where the noodle was replaced with fish. It's a bold idea to replace such petty food with meat, the man's food. An idea I first came across on Epic Meal Time. They made a lasagna where the noodles were replaced by Bacon Strips. Seriously it is more impressive than I am making it sound. But watch the video, it takes some time but once it gets into it you'll be amazed especially if you've never wandered into Epic Meal Time before. Cook your ass off and in the morning get drunk off pancakes!

Fine Tuning

2011-10-14T08:47:00.000-07:00

First off I am in a meeting right now and really happy I got my lappy. Its a great way to pass some boring time. So I decided to live up to my boy Lyrics Born and actually practice the idea of Always Fine Tuning. Without further ado...

Yep that's right, I changed the bloggorino. I did it this past wed. night right after I posted the tuesday night fish installment number 2. I was horsing around and liked what I saw so I did it. I think it will be a work in progress may make some minor changes but I think I'll keep it to this general look for a while but just fine tune things. Not really important but fun for me in the 3 min. of spare time I get during a month... or during a meeting.

Chow!

Fish Night and Japanese WTF?!

2011-10-12T20:05:00.000-07:00

Seriously Japan is messed. I google Japan fish and get a bunch of tatoo-ed naked ladies, weird jeans, and this:

Moving on, last nights dish was a classic fish and chips that I make often. Basa baked, grilled in butter is actually tasty-er, but baked is a little healthier. Also simpler when I am baking diced potatoes. Little lemon pepper on the fish and seasoning salt on the tots. Really what I usually have for fish night.

To make this a little special I have concocted a failsafe Tartar sauce. I find Tartar sauce when bought is sketchy, never tasting the same and some brands have a weird flavour (probably came from Japan just like that Kikkoman soya sauce). Its really simple and all it comes down to is Dijon mustard. I prefer Frenchs. Mix about 60:40 Tartar to Mustard. You can experiment with your own ratio. Likewise you will likely do this all the time as I now do. Happy eating.

Getting All Sentimental

2011-09-29T21:16:00.000-07:00

Spent the better part of the day trying to get crap together for a garage sale. Mostly I mean cleaning. With that said I have a few thoughts about this. The time an effort it takes to get things ready is not worth it. If we make $100 or $200 I'd be not only surprised but happy. The large majority of what we are "selling" will end up getting tossed. It seems to me it would be easier to just do this. I hate that I buy stuff right now.

Now through this process I have taken some time to reflect on things. Okay I thought about this and figured why not blog it. The set up is the differences between my girlfriend and myself. The difference in sex, life experience and age I think contribute to the difference of mentality. As we are going through things she examines each written piece of paper to determine its sentimental value. Where I would throw things out she would keep.

Now maybe I can attribute this to age. I am an old grump and have no use for sentimental things. Maybe I don't relate because my life experiences have been different. Maybe her's will change as she ages as well. Maybe the sentimental things she keeps from family and friends will shift to her own immediate family, husband and kids. When that happens does all the old family and friends stuff get tossed? Its value has now fallen and one last go through will be enough (obviously b/c in another 5 years, this will be the next time she goes through this stuff again). Maybe its just the difference between the sexes.

Not really sure where the answers lie but definitely through my life time I have rid my self of many sentimental things. I have a very limited pile of sentimental things and even that I think of getting rid of. I prefer to use my memory and if its not important enough to remember than I guess it wasn't all that sentimental. The funny thing is getting older will deplete this memory and by the end I'll have nothing left. That actually doesn't sound all that bad.

Cherry On Top

2011-09-22T18:28:00.000-07:00

Not sure if it is just me but I find simulated cherry flavour delightful. More so than other fruit flavours. I've been trying to peg it but can't seem to. There is a part of me that thinks that maybe it is because it may taste the closest to real fruit than any others. Obviously with lots of sugar added. But it seems like they don't toy with the cherry taste a whole pile. Honourable mentions to strawberry and watermelon, although watermelon gets my vote because I think Watermelon Bubblichous is better than real watermelons.

Also how come cherry's are synonymous with love or sex??

Tuesday Night Fish Night

2011-09-13T20:41:00.000-07:00

I play hockey every Tuesday night. Oddly I also seem to eat fish a lot on Tuesday night. I know this because I go to hockey and think I shouldn't have eaten fish. It doesn't happen every Tuesday but it seems it is the only day I do eat fish. Take for example today.

Today I enjoyed some Saskatchewan caught pickerel, dipped in egg, then in rolled in crushed up Topables crackers, pepper, salt and then fried in a generous amount of butter. Topped off with a light tarter sauce and side of home made french cries.

For full recipe details please go visit another website. Try one that focuses in food.

The Tuesday night fish dish has been a bit of a coincidence, these sometime plague my life (in a good way). For example It was pointed out to me that I had arranged all my sports DVD's on the shelf together. I did not know that, but I like it and if I can remember I intend keep them organized so.

Also I thought I should point out, the majority of my fishing in recent years has been on Candle Lake. This is the first year I actually caught something. Glad to break that streak. And thank god for other lakes.

That's all I got for now.

The Short And Skinny Of It

2011-08-31T15:07:00.000-07:00

I frequent the Bradee's corner store on 13th ave. Lately I have seen a few other patrons there that are super skinny. Like annorexic skinny. I do not like this. They make me feel uncomfortable. On the flip side I am way more comfortable around a fat person unless they are wearing clothes they have no business in. Like a tube top.

To further my plight I hate skinny jeans as a fashion. No one looks good in them, they should ahve never come back in style and I don't understand why we don't learn from our fashion mistakes. Maybe we all just really want embarassing photo's in a montage at our weddings. I don't know.

Either way I am not sure what I have against skinny people or maybe fat people just seems so much more cuddly. Maybe its because I am a fat person, I guess its a good thing I prefer it that way. And I think as a society we seem hypocritical because we tend to admire the skinny while we all get fat. At the end of they day we are all beautiful people, variety is the spice of life and it gives me something to talk about.

So if you are comfortable enough leave me your preference, Skinny or Fat? Could be interesting to see what people prefer as we statistically get larger. Do we actually admire the skinny? I know I don't.

I Think Of You Blog

2011-08-17T22:23:00.001-07:00

That's it, from time to time I think about this blog. I have thoughts then I don't write them down and blogs get lost in my mind. Someday I'll find the time. Someday I'll be Saturday Night. Someday.

The Return Of The Hobo

2011-05-25T18:18:00.000-07:00

Just not this one.

Some of you may remember the Wandering Hobo and some of you may be asking what the hell is going on. To explain to those wondering or a little refresher for those..not wondering, please read the blogs from July and August in 2007. Anyways I had a brush with my hobo past today and not in the greatest of circumstances. However like all good stories there is a lesson to be learned, some sort of endured troubles, a cumbersome yet delightful understanding based on past experience and a large pile of poop.

The office building I work at is about 3 feet off of the neighbouring building thus creating a comfy cove. At one end are some bushes that hide the cove and at the other a parking unit that is lit but also hides the cove. Over winter someone has started to stock pile stuff in the gap. I suspect a sleeping quarters were the next stage as when I showed up to work yesterday there was a mattress in our parking lot just off from the hideaway. So this morning when showed up I decided I would help them move to a new location.

So I clean up the parking lot, swept and moved the bed and decided I was ready to tackle the collection in the gap. This collection I knew was growing and I also knew changed. There occasionally were some very heavy items. So I knew the work wouldn't be easy. And sure enough to top it all off right in the middle of the entrance about 2 ft. in was a freshly laid poop. I wasn't thrilled and sadly realized I would have to work around this poop. which also happened to be right next to the largest stock pile.

Now that is not the part that gets me. Really the Vomit smell gets me...I almost vomit..regain composure and later its the thought that gets me. Why does someone who lives in this condition, with old couch cushions for a mattress, a collection of bags, and who has clearly ate a pigeon, why do they have the audacity to start a collection of broken electronics? For example a broken laminator that I threw out from the office. Its heavy and worthless and no good to a hobo unless used as a weapon, but really to heavy to use as a weapon. Or a TV that is about 40 years old and the plastic is smashed to shit and I can clearly see the moisture has had a negative impact on the insides. What do they use it for? Is it a trophy? Does it indicate status, like owning cattle? I don't know these answers. All I know is that it took some caution to maneuver with it around the large pile of shit they also left for me.

Then to my delight at the other end of the break between the building behind some industrial piping, almost like apartment B I found another stash which is clear belonging to another street walker. So I go around the other side of the building and neatly kept in a potato box is a supply of moldy food and a really nice pair of knee high boots. So I relocate these and look at the graffiti placed on our panel box outside. As I look at it, I relive my hobo days and to my delight clearly see for the first time ever not it a book or online, hobo writing. Which clearly indicated where the box was and something else I couldn't decipher. All my research and work in my early life paid off for this moment of realization.

The rest of the day was filled with small delights. I felt like bugs were crawling up me all day and I checked to see and thankfully the boots were snatched up as no one would have wanted to let those slip through their fingers.

I promptly took a shower when I got home, washed all my clothes and things and then wrote a blog. Good day.

Dam That's Hot

2011-03-28T18:40:00.001-07:00

No I'm not talking about this -10 C in spring time. I'm talking about Sexy People.

I am not sure how to "follow" but Stephne, one who follows me, had this going on and I like it. I also like you Stephne for following, not sure who you are but your all right by my standards... even if you haven't blogged in forever.

Fanapolooza

2011-03-27T18:30:00.000-07:00

I am a fan. A fan of many things. Whether it be the movie Seven, a 80's hair metal band or fettuccine alfredo. I am a fan.

I watch Seven intently, sometimes blurting out what is to come in a over excited school boy voice. Sometimes I tense up with the same excited tension.

I listen to Poison, some times mimic-ing the noises of every guitar solo and some time singing until my voice is shot. But thats in the car, when I listen at home I hear each note and how it relates to the next note or how the bass is mixed with the guitar and I appreciate the fact that even though they are the Justin Bieber of their day the musical flow (which they wrote) still went together in a beautiful symphony.

When I eat alfredo I critic how the noodles were cooked, their texture and how they hold the sauce. I imagine the chef and how they came to their own garlic to parmesan ratio. I try to taste each flavour individually and then together before I just enjoy my meal. I guess all of this is just about enjoying what you like.

Which brings me to how other people ruin this for me. As a fan I enjoy sports. I go to football games to watch not to get so shitfaced I can't remember the game. There is time for that afterwards. Also watch a lot of sports TV. Hockey a mainstay, in particular has me all worked up right before playoffs. Not because I have a particular team or the race is tight. But because other people are pissing me off as I watch TV.

Lately, and I am not sure if it is b/c I have just started noticing it in the last few years but certain fans have made me want to punch them. In fact I am not sure if I can call them fans. These halfwits some how think in their genius that they are there to be the star of the show. So when the puck goes down into the corner instead of seeing a battle for it I now see some tool standing up facing the camera.

Way to spend $300 for some kick ass seats to an event most people would kill to see while you don't even watch it. Your too busy texting your friends and facing the camera when it pans to your side of the ice. Sit down, watch the game or god willing someone who is actually watching the game in the row up from you is going to deck you, especially if that person is me.

Back With An Issue At Vest

2011-03-22T20:58:00.000-07:00

I don't get it. Vests to keep warm. I see people with this fashion trend where upon a cold day they wear a long sleeve shirt possibly a bunnyhug, and then for extra warmth a vest. It confuses me. Do they do this to look cool, as no vest looks cool, or do they do it to keep warm when the wind can clearly affect their arms and worse body through the openings usually known as sleeves. I mean if you use a vest as fashion, as in under a suit jacket I get it, or even inside a real jacket that makes sense, but to use it solely as a jacket? Not so sure about that. Unless you maybe can't afford the rest of the jacket. I can see that.

Sorry I will try to improve my as of late non-blogging ways.

Big Time Corporate F^*k$!

2010-10-19T16:51:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the land of the rich and greedy. I never thought I'd see that day that a company would turn down money. Not just even here's twenty bucks but like a thousand dollars a year. But apparently that is not enough to sooth the minds at huge corporate organizations.

In the last month I have been turned away from two large companies and the use of their products. Even though these products, on the shelf, range from $1 to $30. So do the math, a thousand dollars worth of items that cost this much is a lot of items. However if you can't afford to make/use ten thousand copies of the items your shit out of luck.

It blows my mind that greed has surpassed the "we'll take any money" to "we'll only take $10 000 or more." I say this because a rep I used to talk to for the one company said what I wanted was do-able. He got fired hopefully not for giving the little guy a fighting chance.

Techno Nerd

2010-10-13T21:19:00.000-07:00

Is it really so wrong to enjoy what a Mac looks like on the inside? I do.

I cleaned out my computers today and it was really enjoyable opening up my Mac to give 'er a quick clean. I o

wn an old PC as well which has scattered wires and bits every where. You gently tug and move things out of the way with the utmost caution so that you

don't wreck anything and after a few stressful minutes the computer is clean-ish.

The Mac has everything organized in nice slide out compartments where you just release the lock and out comes a unit of the computer in one piece. You clean it and around the empty space it has left and return the compartment. Stress free, less time and a lot

cleaner. Although honestly the real reason I like the insides so much is because of how organized it is. It's organization that puts a smile on my face.

We Had A Good...Slow Crawl; Lizzy 2007-2010

2010-10-04T19:58:00.000-07:00

A sad day has come here at the Acts, Lizzy the pet Salamander died over the weekend. The cause is unknown but she looks like she died a peaceful death. We will burry Lizzy on Wednesday and she will be leaving our world the same way she came to us, in a juice container. That really does sum up the life of Lizzy, like a great Shakespearian play she was all comedy with a Tragic end. It strange to say it but it has only been a few days and I honestly admit that I miss her. She graced our lives for three years and over this time you really get to see a pets personality. Lizzy had loads of it. I will miss the way she figured every time you went to the tank was feeding time. I will mis her slow crawl. I will miss the way she look at you and seemed to smile when you held her in your hand. I will remember the story of how we got her and I will remember the first live spider we gave her. I will remember how happy she looked when we made her tank larger and she had so much more space to hide, that smile and those little eyes with a mound of dirt on her face was priceless. I will remember the countless times she couldn't get the food in front of her face yet went the hunt was on she was perfect. I won't forget how when ever you got close she would crawl towards you and stick a little salamander hand out as if to say "hello!" Yea we sure had our times. I never thought I could get attached to a critter such as a Salamander but Lizzy was something else, she was a pet and a friend. Lizzy you will be missed.

Lizzy Link 1

Lizzy Link 2

Lizzy Link 3

I Am A Super Genius

2010-09-08T18:13:00.000-07:00

Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking is a mini series done for Discovery which takes a 2hour look at the universe, the science (physics) and how it applies to popular belief and science fiction. It covers three main ideas and I found them very intriguing.

The first theme was actually why I wanted to see the show. I have said it before, the possibility of alien life is very good. It’s a simple matter of math and odds. Life on earth, if it were the only planet to have life would be virtually a one in a (insert largest number known to man) chance. I didn’t believe this for a second, which is why I have a fascination in extra terrestrial stories here on earth. Don’t get me wrong I also believe the very large majority of the stories are not as they seem. Just like ghost stories. This is what intrigues me, although I don’t believe the stories there is a possibility that these things do exist. By the way the math line, which is mine, is almost word for word what Hawking says.

In this section he goes onto describe how he believe aliens would look at act. He also issues a warning that if we ever have contact with aliens it may not be so friendly. Everything he said made sense to me. When I imagined aliens I imagined them as very human like, maybe not in looks but in actions. Hawkins suggest this could go into looks, for example a predatory animal has front facing eyes to judge distance or a land based alien would have legs, feet and possible arms or hands for simple day to day navigation. As far as the actions I only see aliens here for 2 reasons which likely intertwine. 1. Curiosity and 2. they are looking for extended resources. Basically if they are here they are curious and researching us and our planet as a resource. Meaning one day they’ll be less than friendly. Why? Because that is what we do. Maybe this is mine and Hawking’s major flaw.

The one that interested me the most was his thoughts on time travel. He says that time travel is more a matter of the laws of nature. Basically the travelling back in time would be impossible because it would violate these laws. However time travel to the future would be possible. My take on what he says is a matter of perspective based on two things size and speed. Really I don’t see it as time travel at all none the less very interesting. So much so I may even try some real time video experiments to test it out for myself.

The last bit is the story of everything, or really the Big Bang and how things were created and how they will end. The main thing I’d like to say about this is he uses imperfections as his reasoning for why all this happened. He keeps saying things like “by chance” or “we were lucky” and this bothered me for a few reasons. First his explanation of nothing is really the existence of something and to bring out the religious side of me “where did that come from? Hmm?” Then with all this luck we were formed. Math again dictates that were weren’t so lucky. If you believe that life on other planets exist because of math then that same math needs to be applied to planets being created with the composition of matter. Meaning by the math there has to be more planets fairly similar to earth.

It is clear that Hawking is pretty darn smart and has a very clear and concise idea to the Universe around him. I found it very interesting that Hawking is actually in the same position (physics professor at Cambridge) as Isaac Newton was when he discovered Gravity. Anyways if you’re into this kind of stuff this is definitely worth watching. It will make sense of a lot of things you probably have thought just couldn’t explain it. Hawking makes it all seem so easy which I think really does attest to his genius. And my stating that can only affirm my status as Super Genius.

I Have No Use For McDonalds

2010-08-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

I thought of this a while back and then was reminded of it this weekend in a conversation with some friends. My story will be told in two chapters as they are two unrelating stories but both some how include McDonalds.

Chapter One

It twas the time of winter....I know I said story but screw the formality. I drive back home for hockey and every now and then I don't have time for food, ie. two hour drive for hockey at 8 when you get off your at 5 doesn't leave much for cookin. Anyways it was like January or something and I go in to get what I always get as its the only product I can actually stomach from Mcdonalds not including icecream, a double cheeseburger meal. The line wasn't too long so I thought perfect I'll be out in no time. I was wrong. 1/2 hour later I was out and I never got that Orange drink they serve, why? because they got rid of it. I was angry.

A few weeks go by and I am running late for another game and I'm thinkin Arby's but they always take to long so I'm like McD's will be quick. I show up and there is like 20 in the loby. I wait for 15min and see like 2 people get served. In a fit of rage I leave. I head down the street and see Dairy Queen. Rochdale for you following at home. I go in order and am out in minutes. I also even got good service, it felt like being at a sit down restaurant. Needless to say M=Happy. I decided then and there never to go back to a McDonalds. Proudly I actually haven't. I think it will be next years new years resolution. It will become the second part of my all ready reoccurring resolution. For those at home the first resolution is to 'keep on keepin on'.

Chapter Deux

I get peeved at shitty service, even if its at Burger King. I am also shamed at our youth as they don't seem to think they can use a job. More and more I see foreigners fill these ranks, where are the kids what are they doing? how can they afford ipods? Anyways back to working crappy service jobs. You know I get it your job sucks but you don't need to tell me that, wait you don't your shit ass demeanour says it all. I don't care how bad your job is when you work in service just be courteous, smile and have fun. Other people will appreciate it more and you'll enjoy your job more no matter how terrible. Seriously these jobs arn't that hard so it shouldn't be hard to do them well instead of really horribly. Just a thought, but your not going to be there forever unless you really want to.

With that said I am surprised we haven't seen a self serve fast food system yet. Some thing like the gas pump or grocery store. This is where McDonalds comes in. Seriously you make enough money, develop the system and it will likely save you money and the amount of poor service people have to deal with. Its really win win.

Who Ya Gonna Call

2010-08-18T16:19:00.000-07:00

I was driving home the other day and seen something I have never seen before. I have heard of Road Rage but this was something else. I was trying to change lanes and had an opening only to have a truck in that lane slam on its breaks. So I held up and the guy behind him let me in. When I slid in, it looked like traffic was moving normally until a guy in the left hand turning lane speeds up and hammers on his brakes right before the median. At this point the truck I was following moved into the turning lane and I was behind a white car. All of a sudden, mid intersection the guy cuts me off and the second lane of traffic. Hanging out his window with his middle index finger raised. He speeds up just enough so the car I was behind could see him with this finger and was leaning out, chest out, turned around yelling at an old guy in the white car in front of me.

I'm not entirely sure what happened but from my view the white car did nothing wrong, while the pompous ass in the truck broke several laws. Not to mention his insane antics and rage made him a very unsafe driver for everyone else on the road. I felt a little threatened by this. But what was I to do?

Thanks to the geniuses that serve us, as mentioned before, there are laws to protect us. This person should not be on the road. Great! Also it is illegal to use your cell phone in the car...unless you have paid enough money to the makers of blue tooth.. ah.. yes that well protect me and save us all. Needless to say I could not legally call in and report this driver. So instead of protecting me the law endangers many more drivers by allowing this guy loose. Thanks.

This is where over protection gets us. I have been against this cell phone law for some time. There are people that can handle a cell phone in the car, hell police use laptops. I am not condoning this action as there are risks however you have to be responsible enough to know when it is safe and when it is not for yourself. There has to be some personal accountability. This is a great example of how governed protection is counter active. I never thought of this cell law this way before but by the time I got home I had no hope in hell in trying to have some positive effect on the situation and get this clown off the road.

I hate the asshole that proposed this law. I really hope my elected official was not responsible for this and to what ever official is, I am ashamed of you. Don't create laws educate your constituency to be responsible then maybe you'd have done your job rather than just acting like you did. I find it ironic that this law passed and you had to buy a product to make it safe and their reasoning is to keep both hands on the wheel, yet we haven't banned eating fast food in the car, adjusting your Cover Girl make up or changing your Justin Bieber CD....should I go on.

Problem With The Law

2010-08-16T17:28:00.000-07:00

I remember being a teen and having the fear of the law instilled in me. I was always told to behave or suffer the consequences. It was a nice thought, if I was a good boy nothing would go wrong. So I obeyed. I was constantly told that the police pick on teens, yet I did not feel this way at all. Sure we got into shenanigans but nothing bad would have happened. Apparently the police back home felt the same way. As long as we acted responsibly ie. had a sober driver, we weren't causing $h!t and we were respectful and ultimately responsible for our actions we had no problems. I thought it was fair.

As I have gotten older everything seem to change and all of a sudden it was all unjust. The balanced seemed to tip. Somewhere along the lines this mutual respect and understanding got twisted. The police now seem to be this overbearing force of grumpiness who exert their power over average people just trying to get to work. I have come to think of the police force as corporate greed-mongers doing what they can to survive at their prestigious level of elitism.

Though sometimes the police force are not the ones who fail us. The problem I see is in over governance. We can't do anything without the influence of the government. No matter what task, no matter how small it falls down to two things, 1. the government feels the need to protect us poor folk and 2. we, the general public, are a bunch of idiots who elect these yahoo's and allow them to do what they do. It's like a circle....

Behind closed doors larger issues are discussed. If your lucky you can find the rulings they make in the mornings Leader Post. We hand over our right to a voice with a vote only to gain the illusion of governing ourselves. Other issues get blown way out of proportion, like maybe they need to make a law that prohibits you from smoking in your own vehicle.

Which is actually one of the things that spawned all this. Recently its been debated whether helmets while motor biking should be mandatory. Intense stuff I know. There has also been an issue lately with Nurse Overtime. The outcry against the nurses has been immense, most of it focusing on one nurse and the quality of patient care. It is a public safety issue to have a nurse work 6, 12hr days in a row. It should be banned. Nurses should have their wages capped. An most of all the terrible service your dad got in the hospital obviously came from an over worked nurse who may have incidentally also killed you father. Incase you haven't noticed that is sarcasm. Everyone acted like the nurse that worked those kinds of hours was inept at his job based on their experience somewhere else. I hate to break it to people but bad service can happen anywhere, even McDonalds. I am guessing in most situations it has nothing to do with sleep depravation, I mean that is the first thing I think off when I get bad service "they must have been tired."

More to the point, the issue with the nurse was a public safety issue. Out of the wood works every one scream bloody hell for more governance. That's the solution. Yet when it comes to the matter of helmets, well maybe people should get the choice. Yes helmets are also a life saving public safety issue. Maybe we should ban smoking in cars, maybe there should be laws against smoking period... oh wait where would we get the extra tax for healthcare?

My point is people need to be less stupid. That way these stupid laws that restrict our freedoms and choices might come to a halt and tomorrow I might be able to fart without fear of breaking the law.

First

2010-07-31T18:08:00.000-07:00

Well that marks a first for me, a whole month without blogging. I don't really have much to say other than I think about blogging but have been wrapped up in summer activities. Really I am just here to catch up, so I will be reading some blogs but not posting just yet. In due time good people I will return. Thanks for tuning in.

Stupid $!%*# Radio

2010-05-20T17:08:00.000-07:00

What is with radio station advertisements swearing lately? I noticed a lot on the local rock station. It comes in the form of a 'beep' noise over the word like "Lets face it 'beep' happens" or "that's 'beeping' gross". And the commercials really seem like they are grasping to be edgy, but their not even that. I remember a TV diner commercial that stated it was "so good it had to be bad for you" so every time the term TV diner was mentioned it 'beeped' out the phrase. At least that was clever.

The fact that these radio adds go on with out any real rational bugs me. As well as some other ones, particularly one that is based on the infamous 2 girls video. They are not good ads, they are not smart and they don't aim to make you buy things, rather they aim to make you remember the add and hopefully what it associates to it. Yea I know I am talking about them but I have not gone to some of the places because of the ads. I can't believe companies will represent themselves like that but since they do use the ads I think it speaks volumes about the company.

All of this comes not on the face of our local rock radio. The other day when picked up my daughter from singing class I heard a very vulgar ad for a company in which the same word was 'beeped' out 4 times. What got me was a few things. 1. In no place should there have been an ad like this for the company it was for. It tarnished their image and 2. This is News Talk Radio, I listen to this because its not as vulgar or inappropriate for my kid in the car. I mean really it was a sports show. Needless to say I was unhappy.

All of this is seemingly strange to me. I like swears, I like to use them, I like their emphasis, but seriously there is a time and place for them and it's not on the advertisements on the airwaves of radio.

SCN, The Death of a Good Thing

2010-04-19T17:42:00.000-07:00

It's hard to imagine that a government could kill one of the few cultural outlets in any nation in less than 4 years, but it happened in Saskatchewan, Canada. SCN went from being the largest independent station in Canada to mediocre, the second the Sask Party took over. With the finger pointed at Brad Wall, know that it was made possible by the Conservative Government. Honestly, the details are unimportant because come this May SCN will close its doors regardless of who did what and how many people will support the station.

Why would the government do such a thing? Because the arts are expendable. Even working in the industry, an individual is expendable. In the eyes of our own community, we are expendable. Not to mention, it's basically a crap shoot as to whether or not you'd even get a chance to work. The two empowered Governments have, from the get go, showed a tendency to disfavour the arts. It really was only a matter of time before a major art cut would be made and what better reason than the economy being in the dump. Do not mistake it, SCN is a major art cut. Cuts needed to be made and did people really expect those cuts to come in Education or Healthcare or, God forbid, Indian and Northern Affairs.

So you make cuts where it seems like the best bang for your buck. Although the 5 Million dollar cut and 35 jobs lost are very inaccurate. SCN was worth over 20 Million a year and the Sask Party cut promises made by an overzealous NDP government, which in turn led to the fall of federal funding which accounted for almost half of this tab. No other province had anything even close to this budget. SCN single-handedly created a growing, profiting industry and now suddenly Saskatchewan fell behind every province. The 5 million they now count is actually closer to 6 million of government money and in actuality we only save 2.5 mil as they have to honour outstanding contracts. Not to mention, we lose the other 2 to 3 Million SCN generates on its own in order to fund projects. All of which in turn pumps money into the Saskatchewan economy. Then these projects get funding from other stations. This happens because SCN funds television shows so that other stations had less risk to take. Then, once again, all this money gets dumped into the economy as restrictions are made by SCN to spend a percentage in Saskatchewan. This number is not added to the total of SCN's budget. As for the 35 jobs, yes, it is true that SCN only employs this many people. However, the effect is on thousands of jobs that trickle from this. SCN didn’t operate like other government agencies. Meaning that infrastructure was a small part of it. The large majority of the money was to go to other companies to make shows. SCN was the governing body that allocated this money. Needless to say, this money went into the hands of Saskatchewan people and businesses with stipulations of the money being spent in Saskatchewan, then trickle, trickle, trickle. The last major flaw is that it was made to seem like people don't watch SCN. Studies were done to find that only 5% of the province's population watched SCN. While this may reflect on certain demographics, it clearly leaves out the North who likely get SCN as their only “local” channel because of the availability it had. On top of this, as I said before, the show SCN funded got funding elsewhere which means these shows were broadcast nationally and globally on hundreds of other channels. Saskatchewan product and stories reach far and wide all because of SCN.

From a personal budgeting level, I understand the decision. For example, if I make $1000 a month that is my budget for the month. Rent and bills, take up the large majority of a budget like this. For argument sake lets say $750. This I relate to infrastructure, you know the stuff that keeps you at home with the water running, power working or rather people working to keep these things working. The other $250 would go to things like food, general health and maintenance, or if you would, healthcare and the raw material to fix roadways etc. Sadly, this is likely very close to how a budget like this would work. As you can see there is no room to go to the movies, drinking or any other sources of entertainment. So, in short, I see the government doing what they have to do in order to keep the province going. When it comes time to cut things out, you cut those that are expendable, what you don’t really need, even if they make life a little nicer.

Yea, I get the move. Yea, it does suck. It’s those nice things that make life great. The unfortunate reality is that this is the first step in a move that will crumple an industry. Pretty much any company that deals with television deals with SCN. Whether they are industry giants or small independent producers. The real truth doesn't lie within the reports the government used to make this decision. The large majority of the Saskatchewan film industry is independents, meaning the 35 employees that lost their jobs will likely translate to 35 companies going under who employ a range of 5 to 20 people each. These people will leave for opportunities in Vancouver and Toronto. As more and more leave for the opportunities elsewhere this will soon lead to the demise of large movie making. The industry giants will have a harder time convincing anyone to come here and spend their money if there is no industry on its own. The positive of the giants is that they are established and will have other areas of their business that will pick up the slack, while they still make their own cutbacks and or outsource in other markets.

However, the outlook isn't as bad as you think. The economy shows signs of turning around and this is an industry where when time and money provides, you can pick it up again. It will cost more, but that is the sacrifice. Technology gets outdated and to keep up with the Jones’s you gotta continually grow. The loss of continual push is irreplaceable. Not to mention the talent pool drought. We will have to start back up from scratch and instead of having professionals you’ll have wanderers who don’t know what they are doing. Which incidentally is how the industry began in Saskatchewan. The entire process will be a rebuild regardless of the short term solutions and new series and shows being shot here. The other sad loss is the resources, the equipment, the millions put into the Soundstage and those are just a few that are not trickle. From here, the support the film industry provides this province is felt in the pocket book of simple companies. A-1 Rentalls, Talman Lumber, CMS Equipment, local restaurants, local caterers, Supreme Basics, Gale's, Mondrian and so many more are taking a tough hit.

The real tragedy is the cultural loss. Whether you watched SCN or not it was a part of what made Saskatchewan unique and it celebrated that in every aspect of its daily business. Which is a lot more than most can say of what they do. Yet it is SCN that will be gone. No matter how much support it gets, how many have joined a facebook group or the immense public outcry the station will be shut down. Sure SCN had its cons but they would have never outweighed its pros. I am not going to try to encourage you to participate in the ongoing struggle to keep SCN alive but I do encourage you to check out the information on it. Go to www.scnmatters.com and read everything. By the time you are done you will feel a little more patriotic about this province and you will feel the cultural loss that SCN is. No matter what happens, SCN will live on in the hearts of many. It will be a social icon for years after its demise. This can be seen in every petition and rally, SCN really does matter to this province.

Bearding

2010-03-02T19:56:00.000-08:00

I love that Excel gum commercial about supporting Team Canada with a beard. Even more so as I grow my own playoff beard. So the more I beard the more my beard supports my team. With that said I did some bearded searching. I found a few interesting things. Unfortunately not that commercial.

1. Beard is a verb.

2. This table:

I recommend downloading this table and growing as many styles as you can. Toodles.

Happy Pills

2010-02-03T21:29:00.000-08:00

I have noticed that my blog is entirely too angry. It seems to me the only things that get me spirited enough to write about are the things that piss me off. Even this blog is based on being angered by my own blogging. Wow that's a mouth full, so I digress.

I am here to bring you all some happiness in your days of reading and I present to you my very own happy list. These are the things that make me happy and I encourage you to add your list to mine. So enjoy.

M's Happy List

-cookies

F@(K Tha Police

2010-01-31T13:03:00.000-08:00

I am really starting to doubt the entire police system and the people who become officers of the law. Too many times have I been pulled over for nothing and too many times have I felt that I have been persecuted for nothing. I admit when I do wrong. Then when I have been driving in a safe matter and I get pulled over because the police have made a pre determined assumption and act like they are right really pisses me off. Crimes that cost people and actually keep us safe go unsolved while petty mistakes that people make are the main priority of the "police service". I am not sure how minor traffic offences are a public service and how issuing fines fixes these problems.

Last night I got a ticket for failure to stop for a red light. According to the ticket this was at 12:40 am, it was in actuality 10 minutes later. Regardless this failure to stop was when I made a right hand turn on an amber light. The officer asked for the usual in which my response was "what did I do?" He countered sharply with "you were speeding and your ran a red light." I asked if he was sure as I had seen a yellow light and he asked "Have you been drinking?" Okay I guess stating what I saw is an offence, but I respond with "No I just got back into town from hockey." I give him my licence while I look for my registration. He next statement is "It looked like you were racing that other car." At this point I laughed and said "What? I made a lane change." To his response "Well you pulled up beside him." So that constitutes as street racing? In a Focus? I asked again about the red light to which he responds "You didn't even slow down, its icy out you have to be careful." At this point he takes my licence and goes back to his cruiser as I didn't find the registration fast enough. I find it and give it to him and wait in my car. I am thinking I am getting a ticket and I haven't even broken a law. Sure enough he returns with a ticket for running a red light. He hands me the ticket and start to walk away. I ask "so your just giving me a red light ticket?" he says "yes" and turns back again. I say "I didn't even run a red light" to his response "while you can take to to the court at the date on it then." At this point he gets in his cruiser and leaves.

So I was accused of drinking, which is fair at that time of night but I hadn't had a drop. I was accused of racing which is ludicrous and I got a $230 ticket for turning right on an amber light. Now the things that get me about this is that I wasn't a threat to the safety of any individuals out that night. There was no pedestrians and no vehicles sitting perpendicular to my travel on this street. I assume I didn't get a speeding ticket as he had no real proof that I was speeding he only had the thought that when I made a lane change that it looked like I was racing. I also didn't appreciate the line that I didn't slow down. I mean really the speed limit is fifty and I was apparently going faster than that but not faster than any of the other traffic ahead of me yet some how the pure performance of the Focus made a 90 degree turn without slowing down? Especially on the icy roads. Not to mention the vehicles in front of me that also went through this light.

So this morning I decided to research this all a little bit. The traffic safety act sates in section 235 subsection 3:

235 (3) If a traffic light at an intersection displays only an amber light:
(a) the driver of a vehicle facing the light shall stop at the crosswalk, but, if the vehicle cannot be brought to a stop with safety, the driver may drive cautiously through the intersection; and...

(this continues to the pedestrian role in (b).

Yet my ticket doesn't say that. Mine is for section 5 in which a ran a red light, which I didn't get a say in or get my questions really answered. Basically I have no proof that I did not run a red light while the police also has no proof.

So I looked for mandates and other information on the roles of officers. The website suggest this as the police mandate, "We commit to preserve the peace, uphold the law and provide quality service in partnership with our communities." So I disturbed the peace at 12:40am by making a controlled right hand turn on an amber light? This is also against the law? And my service was excellent as he answered all my questions? And this was all done to better serve my community. Really? So the fact that you couldn't catch someone who broke into a car by smashing a window outside of my house with video footage of it happening is less of a community service than handing out a sketchy ticket 3 blocks from my house? Hmm.

"RCMP ethical standards are based on six core values: integrity, honesty, professionalism, compassion, respect and accountability. These core values make up the basis for every decision we make and help us determine how we should conduct ourselves on a daily basis. Closely following these values allows employees to make informed and ethical judgements in business dealings and the workplace. It is critical that we make sound decisions as we are accountable for them in the end."

Integrity-The assumption that I was racing, even though I turned away from the person I was supposedly racing in less than a block.

Honesty-That I ran a red light and not answering my question on it.

Professionalism-Walking away from me, assuming certain aspects...

Compassion-It's 12:40am I am not drinking my house is 3 blocks away and the slight offence of not stopping on an amber light that could easily be argued as a matter of traffic safety as it was icy, yet handing out a false pretence ticket shows compassion. Or the fact that you could have given me a speeding ticket which costs a lot less. Not to mention since I was no real threat and didn't actually break any law you could have told me to be more careful next time with an issued warning.

Respect- I didn't lie at any point in that night yet my views were not respected. I was pulled over for BS reasons which you found false and you still gave me a ticket.

Accountability- I can't help bout feel certain aspects affected the outcome. 1. the pre-concieved notion of racing 2. The false notion of drinking 3. and the lack of an actual speed being recorded led the officer to feel obligated to give me this ticket on the basis that all his other outlets fell through. No matter what I did I was getting a ticket. Where is his accountability? To the police quota, police finance and his police pay check.

Omnibus Survey indicates that Regina citizens feel it is a safe place to live and that crime and policing are important issues. What it doesn't tell you is whether people are please with how police work is handles and whether the police have a direct effect on this feeling of safety. I feel safe in my neighbourhood only because of our neighbours and how quiet it is. The stats show that the crime in our area is that peoples cars get smashed windows. This is the very large majority of it. My safety has to do with the fact that I know nothing will happen to me and if something does it will be minor. I likely won't report anything to the police. Do I feel safer because of the police in this city? No.

The stats will also tell you a few things. Criminal Code, Dangerous and Impaired traffic offences hover around 4000 to 5000 while other traffic offences are around 25 000 to 30 000. The stats also show that All Criminal Code offences are going up while property offences are going down. I am thinking a lot of people don't report the petty offences. Property offences in our area in 2008 were reported at 126 while in 2009 100. I'm thinking people see less being done and just suck up the costs. The thing that would really prove this would be how many convictions are made for the offences. I know between us and our neighbours the police are 0 for 3 in the last year. I'd like to see them catch more people who are in gangs, sell drugs, damage property, drink and drive or many other serious crimes that I see almost daily that put the public in real safety issues than minor driving offence that pay the police bills. The only person to not stop at a red light and turn right at this time of night was the police a few seconds behind me. Police the real crimes and quit making honest people pay for the crimes you don't police.

I Am Scared Of Elevator Music

2010-01-30T08:08:00.000-08:00

I watched Speed the other day. I don't know if you all remember how the movie opens so I'll give you my Cole's Notes version. Fancy titles while in dark space, reveal elevator shaft. People get on elevator. Reveal electronic device on elevator cables, undoubtable explosives. Elevator moves and gets stuck in between floors. Keanaue Reeves and Jeff Daniels arrive to save the day. Bad guy watches things unfold on TV and makes demand for money. Explosive charge goes off dropping people a small way only suspended by a few cables now. Our heros tie big winch wire to elevator. Bad guy blows the res of the cables. Elevator falls and the winch breaks but gets caught in the shaft thus the people in the elevator can get rescued. Upon rescue one lady won't leave elevator until last minute when the winch breaks more and the elevator falls to its doom.

The next day at work, I go on on the elevator and upon reaching my destination floor I hear the bell that indicates to waiting passengers that the elevator has arrived. Then I proceed to wait for almost a full minute for the elevator doors to open. That is odd. The next day the elevator is shut down for some sort of repairs. Hmmm. The next day I arrive and both elevators are working with one slight difference. Now when we go past a floor the elevator itself makes a strange buzz to indicate the floors it has gone by. The first floor scared the hell out of me as I thought, great now something else is wrong, why does this keep happening to me? I am going to die in this elevator. Then the second floor buzzes and I catch on to what is going on. My thought process switches to well if it was supposed to make this sound all the time and wasn't what the hell else was wrong with these things. I am lucky to have not died in the elevator so far.

So needless to say I hate my work elevator. The way it moves, the way it feels and the way it sounds. I no longer trust it. I think I will take the stairs from now on.

The Wackness

2010-01-18T20:53:00.000-08:00

Following suite with Cage the Elephant's "there ain't no rest for the wicked" I like to consider myself not so wicked but the advise is taken. Lately there seems like there has been no rest. Work like regular folk and then go to a hockey game. Doesn't matter, Pats and work, Pirates and play then for fun through in a world junior tournament. 20 plus games a month and yet somehow I am still wondering how come it seems like I don't have time. Oh yea and before I forget I am still trying to edit a bunch of videos while adding more.

Throw in some car break-ins (not my car but at my house) with some surveillance video to review I'd like to say it has been an interesting time. Obviously I like hockey. I would play more if I could. I would make every Pats game if I could and the Juniors was just awesome to be at. The only thing that sucks is work.

With that, it feels like there is no rest and even worse like there won't be for a long time. Its a little unnerving to think that but things could be worse. So if it seems like I ignore you or if I seem tense I apologize. Some day I will hang out with people again and actually show up at more place than I am just required. For the most part I feel like I have been in a good frame of mind and I am excited for the wealth of babies about to come for a few friends. Hopefully these sunny outlooks will keep me going.

So until I can come out and play again the only rest I'll get is at night. With that said its past bed time.

How The Grinch Pimped Christmas

2009-12-24T21:30:00.000-08:00

By Grinch I mean I am gonna Gripe and by pimped I mean big pimpin style with the bling bling. Like clockwork, the Christmas season inevitably brings the question of engagement. So if your thinking about asking me PFO. I think the Christmas proposal is weak. Especially when that is all the gift the girl gets for Christmas. The season has now become overbearingly about who got engaged to whom rather than about getting together with friends or family and just enjoying the holiday. The drama of the Christmas engagement equals that of grade 8 popularity contest. I hate the fact that I can't talk to someone without talking about someone else who is irrelevant to the conversation just because they popped the question or that I have to answer the question on a yearly basis. To me this is not in the spirit of friends and family getting together holiday not to mention its cliche. Yet some how millions seem to disagree with me.

Thankfully this year the lady friends sister got engaged about a month before Christmas, which takes a little heat of me. However I do have to commend him on it a little. The time difference allows it not to be the only topical piece for the family Christmas, friends have soaked it in and can move on with sharing the season with everyone and those who have missed the ordeal can catch up in a "no big deal" fashion rather than join an engagement frenzy. So for that I give him a thumbs up.

Thumbs down goes to the advertisers. It was about 2 or 3 weeks before Christmas that I seen something that made me barf. It likely has happened every year and I just never noticed, but sure enough it was right there in my face. As I was watching TV it happened, "Sports Center is brought to be Da Beers" with the picture of a giant diamond ring. I thought "You Fu(!<ers! Pandering to this obscene ritual! And of all places my sports TV!" Then I seen it everywhere. Men's bathroom stalls, advertised by Lingerie advertisements and flyer upon flyer from countless chain stores I didn't even know existed. Then I had to respect them a little as really they just know they're audience and they're time.

Then like all good stories (not that this is one) I learned a lesson. It's not about what I think, its about money. The masses have decided this is a good idea, the Christmas proposal and the advertisers are just trying to cash in. I honestly can't tell you for sure that it was Da Beers in Sports Center but they are aiming to put their company name in your heads. By your I mean us fellas. They simply know that we are watching this stuff, they also know that I girlfriends know we are watching it and they know this two things can likely swing a half decided mind. Thankfully my mind hasn't escaped me entirely yet.

So to be clear, if you ever get the urge to ask me if I got engaged to my girlfriend over Christmas the answer is no. Although you may not hear the answer because I'll make sure you'll feel my answer right in the nose. Seriously. And it will be this way as long as I live.

On a lighter note happy holidays everybody. I hope santa treats you kindly and your dad supplies the rum.

M's Picks

2009-12-14T21:24:00.000-08:00

Despite my pissing and moaning I do get to do some cool things. For the last year and a half I have been videotaping the Pats home games. This year came the added bonus of an NHL game and all the World Juniors happening at the Brandt Center. If you are keeping track the last two night there has been the Red and White games and tomorrow night they play the CIS Sask. Allstars. Then 60 of the finest NHL destined will get narrowed to 23(so DM tells me) in the next week. So having the privilege of watching all this I though I'd weigh in with my picks for this years top 23.

Goalies: Personally I like Ollvier Roy. He has shown some great poise and has made some unreal stops. This is not to say he's the only contender as all the goalies are very good and have a shot. My back up would be Matt Hackett or Jake Allan. 3

Update: Goalies are Jake Allan and Martin Jones. Shows what I know about goalies. I honestly had a tough time picking this spot as all of them seemed similar. In the last game Jones played much better than Hackett and I think I would have gone with him too.

Defence: My picks that seem like no brainers here consist of Ryan Ellis, Alex Pietrangelo and Colton Tuebert. Ellis is unbelievably skills and poses a serious offensive threat and Pietrangelo has such poise and grace being able to control the game. Tuebert pisses me off a little, obviously I get to se a lot of his games and he looks much better at camp. Why? Does he not try when its not on the line or does he just need better players around him? Either way he has stuck out here and not on the Pats blue line. My other picks would be Marco Scandella, Dylan Olsen, Jared Cowan, Tyler Cuma and Nicholas Deslauriers. Initially I had Hamonic but he seemed slow tonight and took some dumb PIMS. 8

Update: I was a little upset that TSN treated Tuebert like he wasn't going to make it he was definitely top 3 despite my anger at him. Olsen played like crap in the CIS game. Deslauriers was my last pick so I don't count him in the crunch to 7 (21 man not 23). As for Haan over Cuma I'm sure it could have gone either way. As for Hamonic, I still have mixed feelings. In the CIS game he showed many positive aspects and improvements however dumb penalties.

Forwards: The obvious, Brayden Schenn, Stephan Della Rovere, Cody Eakin and Jordan Eberle. I have been most impressed with Eberle, the guy isn't very big but he's been pulling off a grinder's roll, he's not selfish and he's got just as much skill as all the other obvious choices. Schenn has been and always is pretty unreal. I don't get to Rovere much but I liked him last year and I like him this year. Eakin was a little off radar but Swifty is for most but he's leading that team for a reason just ask Keener. I would have liked to put Patrice Cormier in the obvious but he hasn't shone as much as those four, although he still makes my cut. Brandon McMillan and Gabriel Bourque made easy picks for me. The other round out like so, Phillippe Cornet, Nazem Kadri, Taylor Hall, Brandon Kozun and Greg Nemisz. I also feel Seguin could fill any spot(or use the experience) and Adam Henrique might get the shot as a Spitfire line. 12

Update: I am shocked that Eakin got cut. He has all the skill that Eberle has plus speed. So I am not sure if he lost out b/c of his size and lack of being able to throw weight around or what. Either way its not my team but I have a new respect for him. Adam played well and deserves the cut. I think he had 3 points in the CIS game. I think it was likely a toss up between Cornet and Caron, Caron getting the edge by being a little bigger and enjoying the physical play. Cornet has speed and skill but not as much as the others. Caron is a good pick as more of a role player.

Now with all of this in mind I have no idea who is what hand or plays what wing and whether Ellis has a broken foot after blocking a shot. So things will likely be a little different. Either way I am sure I know more than Pierre.

Strange Youthful Tolerance To The Cold

2009-12-12T08:31:00.000-08:00

News Flash: It's Been Cold Outside!

So I'm sure it's no surprise to anyone but I can't help to think that maybe it is. For a few years now I have been fighting with a little person to wear ski pants. The justification is that no one else does. And It never really hit me until this year that maybe kids don't feel the cold the same as adults or maybe adults loose their tolerance to the cold like they loose tolerance to alcohol.

I remember as a kid being much the same way. I never fought about putting on ski pants but it never seemed to matter how cold it was I was going outside to play. I am sure there were days where mom cringed at the thought but I was bundled up so she let me go. Only a few minutes later having my entire face exposed and getting a face wash from an older sibling. Then after a few hours of playing returning to the warmth of the house. Sure my cheeks were red but I never ever froze my skin. Excluding an incident with a snowmobile when I was much older.

Now I as a parent I see kids often not dressed for winter. In fact probably 90% of the kids I see are just like how I was. however there are a few that seem to think that in minus forty weather the appropriate attire is a bunny-hug. Its unbelievable we don't have more winter mishaps just because of the cold. I say this on a day its supposed to feel like -50 out. I'm cold thinking about. yet that bunny-hug wearing girl waiting for a ride where ever seemed OK.

So I don't really know where to stand on this. Maybe old people get cold and that's what we do while young people have a higher tolerance to deep freeze. Either way I wish all would dress for the weather because it make me feel a little warmer on the inside.

Broke Ass Blues

2009-12-02T15:32:00.000-08:00

I have been getting more and more frustrated that I cannot find work. It hit me the other day when a popular job search web site indicated that I had applied for over 50 positions on this site and not one of them turned into even a phone call. This site also contained the lesser of my total applications representing about a third of the the total amount of resumes I have handed out this year with only really about 4 interviews. The only stat worse than this is my batting average.

This frustration boils to financial frustration when the short term jobs I do manage to get don't pay enough and end to soon leaving gaps. Which in turn leaves financial gaps. Which means M lives of soup sometimes. And in the long term M isn't getting debt paid, which makes people mad at M like lawyers.

I march on applying for almost every job imaginable with out applying at McDonalds (which is getting closer to an option) hoping for something better to come and my future outlook turn around. I was hoping my own business adventure would rocket my paycheck but that hasn't happened yet. So bring on stability, I can use you any time.

Work Time Fun

2009-11-19T19:33:00.000-08:00

From several conversations at work I have come to the conclusion that I like words that are joined words. For example, on the low side "Schmammered" a combination of hammered and Schm which makes me laugh when explained so. I enjoy "re-donk-ulous" where I think the donk is short for donkey which is also funny. And the ever-flowing "re-goddam-diculous".

Also I am a champion at work. This is how. In our office building there is also United Way. They always have some small fundraisers in the main lobby. Today on our way to coffee we find the fundraiser is a bunch of things on the floor, prizes if you will. We inquire and they say my thoughts, you get to throw things from the 3rd floor balcony to the main floor and hit the bullseye to win a prize. I have always wanted to spit from the 5th floor to the main floor and now I could kind of live my dream, except with, and this may even be better, those little parachute army men. Needless to say we skipped coffee and I won some bag that I can pick up on Monday. Best day of work ever.

There Has Been A Lot Going On

2009-11-14T22:17:00.000-08:00

Where to start? I feel ashamed that I have not been blogging. I think of little things throughout the day and forget them. When I look at my blog I draw a big blank. I check it everyday and even tried to moderate that strange spam comment and have failed miserable. Day in and Day out I am useless when it comes to blogging. It's terrible. And really this late night attempt at something coherent is a result of these feelings and I apologize in advance.

I have been working for one of those Employment companies. Its been nice to have some income however the jobs haven't been all that great. They take up time in my day and I don't do much job hunting any more. Right now I am working for a government organization. I find it funny I used the term Organization because there is none there. It blows my mind that this operation is even functioning and even more so that they bring in Temp workers to fix it.

So I have decided I would like to work for myself. However this proves more difficult than it ever should be. Once again I am let down by Government Organizations. For almost 3 months now I have been trying to set up my own company. The result may be that I don't. This is how disappointed I am with this specific organization. I would understand if it was bureaucratic bs that I had to wait for but it wasn't even that. Once again let down by the government I have decided to fight. I have slowly pissed off enough people that they keep passing me on to their superiors. Maybe by this time next year I will get answers to my questions and maybe I can change a system that is severly lacking organization, pesonal skills and communication with those they serve.

Strike three on the government is a long stemmed issue. EI is a joke. Its function and opperation is a shame to working people, unemployed people and aparrently people in school. I have recently found out that EI, a government run program does not recognize University as having any merit. However in order to get hired with them you need some sort of University degree. They call University education of choice, meaning that its not pratical to the workforce Canada needs. Apparently teaching is not important enough to condone going to school to become one in the eyes of the government or for that matter becoming a medical doctor. I guess we don't need health profeshionals in Canada or people to teach. Anybody else seeing the flaws here? I can't wait till someone realizes that with no teachers the University will make zero money off of poor broke kids who don't know any better. Anyways I will have my chance to try and stick it to the EI man. Hopefully on more issues rather than this one.

I have also entered the busy season for myself. With hockey here I am busy with the Pats. They have also asked me to make a promo video for them inbetween the OT and the Shootout. So that is good. I have all sorts of new gear to actually make videos and will be testing it out in a couple weeks. So that is good. My work for myself program has brought in two grand. That is not good, I would like to make more so if you know anyone who needs videotaping they can hire me. No I do not do baby videos, the miracle of life is kind of gross and I don't care what anyone says. My own hockey has started and I all ready hate Leroy. It amazes me how one place can be filled with so many complete losers. Over the years I have lost any respect for them but feel they get about as much as they deserve...zero. I also have to pull my act together and get all my videos done from this year. I have five and have completed none but started one. Not good. Lastly I made a calender to help organize all that I do. I have realized that I will be very busy come december. With birhtdays holidays, hockey and the World Juniors I will not get a break. I'd be happy to actually get holidays. Then January gets busier. Hopefully the playoff schedules work in my favor. I have also started writting for another blog. So we'll see how that goes. I think it is good for me to focus on a subject matter rather than being completely random like the publicacts gets. So it shoudl be good you can check that out at the link on the sidewall there for Darth Vaders Next of Kin.

I think that is it. I can't beleive this blog is as long as it is. Hopefully if I seem stressed out you'll understand but hopefully I won't be. I feel I have been rather good since I started skating. Although I am sore now. I hate being old. Blog end.

The Family Circus

2009-10-16T10:22:00.000-07:00

I know this isn't my place in life and I rarely see anything of what is going on but thanks to my GF I do know who Jon and Kate are. Now with that said I learned a while a go that they have eight kids. Then almost as long ago I learned that their marriage is in shambles. Then today on MSN I learned that it is still a hot topic. I mean who sued who, who slept with who, yadda yadda.

I thought about this for a bit and I started to draw comparisons with my own family circus. Yes my situation with my daughter is not ideal. Her mother and I squabble over everything and the unfortunate thing is I know our daughter knows all about it. I get sick of fighting and I get sick at that thought that things are rough. However I frequently come across some sobering revelations that things aren't that bad. Jon and Kate are one of them.

I couldn't imagine living in the public eye. I am sure they needed the cash from the show at the start but I also think fame has affected them in ways we cannot perceive. If you watch the show you can learn that Kate has always been a bit of a bitch and at times seems two faced. Jon on the other hand has seemed unhappy for the longest time but putting on a good show.

Originally I thought about the benefits of the show for the kids. I thought wow they would have this amazing documentation of their lives. It seemed like an opportunity that no one would get to look back on. Now I am thinking that all the show will do is build up bad blood. They can read into what ever mom and dad said and maybe create some idea that the show was either faked ie. renewing vows and less than a year later separate, or maybe torment them as they deal with their later life issues.

Now I think a lot of this could have been avoided if people in the situations can calm themselves down. I know its tough and I can't imagine what it is like with the fame, but seriously both of them need to grow up. Stop publicizing who did what and blaming the other and suing for this and stop being a general asshole towards everybody. Thanks to your TV appearances and late night romps your children can learn all about how each of you were complete idiots and likely didn't give a shit about them. After all if you two really wanted to make thing better for your children you would stop doing what your doing and deal with things as quietly as possible and move on.

So as I said the times I get really pissed off my situation isn't so bad. However it takes two sides to come to terms and realize that one should not be out their to trample the other one. I learned long ago that things should be business like and there still needs to be a level of trust. So this is my advice to you Jon and Kate.

Welcome to Octoberrrr

2009-10-07T17:40:00.000-07:00

I love this month! Why? I'll tell you why, that is of course assuming you keep reading, in which case I may tell you why, unless I talk to you later, which brings me to is blogging really telling? Answer no, unless you learn something new then it is similar. Wow, that was a tangent.

I do like this month. It has Halloween which means candy, it has cold which means hockey and all other great winter sports to come and it has well that is all I can really think of. It's not much but it is still enjoyable. You may not agree but lets just say I disagree with you then.

Getting past my nonsensical typing spasm, does anyone ever really consider the name of the month anymore. I am sure at some point in time it had some mythical meaning or underlying story but seriously, is it coincidence or a purposeful reminder of the weather to come. Think about. Septem-burrr, Octo-burrr, Novem-burr, Decem-burr. Its like they are warning us that things are about to get cold. Just a thought.

Keep eating your vegetables.

Emery 1 Mac 0...or something like that.

2009-10-07T17:26:00.001-07:00

First of all sorry for the extreme lack of blogmanship, not that anyone pays a attention.

Is this a game? I don't know? Did I really win? Likely not.

More to the point for those of you I don't talk to on a regular basis and may not know the efforts of starting my own home business, may also not know that I recently purchased a brand new Mac Pro. I was excited. Until I showed up at Purolator to pick up my computer and I saw a 2 inch by 6 inch gash in the box. I checked things out and it seemed fine but I wondered. When I got the computer home I hooked it all up and bammo, it seems like it is working. One little issue with the internet. But on our network nothing to be concerned about. So on I go installing programs when I try the internet again; nothing. So I do as much as I can and still nothing. Then I call Mac, then Access, then NetGear then nothing. Back to Mac and over the last 3 days and literally about 20hrs on the phone Apple has decided to give me a new computer. With dozens of test they have concluded that the Mac Pro has a hardware issue.

So now I am packing it up and sending it back only to get a new computer sent our. Was it because of the shipping blunder I don't know. What I do know is that a replacement on this very expensive piece of equipment is very much appreciated. So if your looking for a new compy a refurbished suped-up Mac Pro will be on the lot soon.

When is the Bettman Era Done and When Does the Ron MacLean Era Start

2009-10-01T13:42:00.000-07:00

I flipped on the tele yesterday and over to my favorite sports network for a lengthy preview of this years NHL season. Smack dab in the middle of it the lovely Jennifer Hedger reports on the on going Phoenix Coyotes debacle. A very public, very annoying and very... um should have been settled before the season problem. Seriously, what the hell, how can the team even operate let alone up its value to be sold "properly".

This to me is another sega in the never end debate as to why Bettman does not belong in the NHL. How "his business" gets in the way of product for us to consume. I say his business because this whole thing in no way promote the NHL, in no way is profitable for the NHL and is in no way good for the NHL. No one understands the crazy ownership issue, the team is loosing value, the court costs are immense and the other teams are paying for it and not to mention who wants to play on or against a team that is falling apart. They have become the laughing stock of the entire sporting world and all for Bettman to show his useless rat face on TV a little more.

This is why I beg the question why doesn't Ron McLean run the NHL? Have you ever seen Ron interview Gary? Ron owns him. He knows more about the sport, he knows more about the operations and he stumps Bettman while he improvises questions. Ron makes Gary look like a tool because he is clearly better, faster and smarter when it comes to hockey. All Bettman can do is retract and try to make stupid jokes only to show how awkward he really is.

Other reasons Ron should run the NHL are:

-He's been a part of it since 1986

-He replaced Dave Hodge who in his own right should be a candidate

-If he can handle Don he can handle anyone or anything

-He's Canadian if that matters to you, even growing up in Red Deer a hockey community

-His background is and always has been hockey not basketball

-He has refereed in almost every level of the sport including for Hockey Day in Canada for the last few years

-He actually attend all-star games and playoffs and he actually watches the games

-He is an inspirational speaker and hockey promoter at many events throughout the year

-He is simply great

That is all I have but feel free to add to the cause. Bettman needs to go, Ron rules.

Guilty Purchases

2009-08-26T14:54:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I feel the way I do, but I can't help but feel disappointed when I make purchases. Sometimes it is something little like a $5 DVD. Sometimes its something I need like a shirt. I am never happy after I buy something and it usually takes some time before I am happy about the purchase. About the only thing I don't feel guilty for buying is food. Why do I feel this way?

Buffer Blog: Hole in the Wall-Possibly the Best Restaurant in Saskatchewan

2009-08-19T10:25:00.000-07:00

I always find it hard to blog after a heartfelt blog. In the instance of subject matter, I was going to write a buffer blog describing this and lead into more inappropriate blogs. However in this time my buffer blog became natural, when on the way home from Great Grandpa's funeral we decided to stop for food. A while back while trying to find fancy restaurants for fancy people I came across a place called Hole in the Wall. The reviews for it were better than good and it sounded like a place I might like ie. Mexican food. I put it on my list of places to eat with the lady which included Taco del Mar, EE Burritos, La Casa Maya (sadly, no more) and Las Palapas.

If Saskatchewan had a top ten list of things to do here before you die, eating at Hole in the Wall would be on that list. Located just outside of Dundurn, in of all places a village called Shields, is simply put the best restaurant in Saskatchewan. I have always wanted to travel to Mexico and Italy just to eat, thinking there has to be better restaurants than Regina offers or pondering if my $100 meal at The Creek is as good as it gets. Last night I think I had that experience on a whim sitting at this wondrous Mexican inspired dreamland.
Amber and I dropped $120 on a shared meal under a menu option called El Dictador. This option starts with your choice of three appetizers from their selection. We started with a potato in goat cheese and spice, which was really good. I've never had goat cheese so my expectations were mixed. Just to be fair my thoughts were, “Well this is a great start.”

The next appy they brought out almost brought me to tears. By far, the highlight of the night, in a meal that already was amping up to be the highlight of my eating career, we ate some bacon wrapped prunes and cheese. These, hands down, were the best tasting things I have ever eaten. I may not be a culinary wizard but I think Ratatouille hit it square on the nose and this dish was rubbing it in my face. When you mix different flavours you can create something great. I would have never dreamed this dish to be that good.
Next we had a tequila flavoured shrimp and potato dish. Which, in it's own right, was delicious beyond expectations but unfortunately I was still on my high from the prunes.

Then, the salad. When I expressed my feeling to our waiter (the owner-who apologized in advance as he is not one of his usual servers) about goat cheese he remarked that there would be more cheese in the cheesecake in the salad. ??? The salad had it all. A bitter cheesecake, sweetly seasoned nuts, a light oil dressing and even edible flower petals. It was that moment when Amber remarked on the Ratatouille theory. Everything in this salad seemed off, yet it looked like it should be good and the strange blends of flavour made a unique salad experience I can hardly describe.
As we waited for our main course they brought out a delicious filler, consisting of two frozen balls of fruit. One was white, the other was red. The flavour and texture was reminiscent of slushy margaritas except you could taste the real fruit embedded in the ice while it was all held together in natural syrupy goodness that only nature could provide.

Then, almost anti-climatic the main course came out. We decided to go with the ribs, which are marked as a favourite and with the lamb. The dishes looked excellent with the lamb's medium rare glow looking like it was painted for photos. The meat was exceptionally tender and delicious. The seasoning was light and only complimented the meat. This is the stand-alone reason it was anti-climatic. In any other setting they would have been amazing, but with what we just went through, the delicious meat flavour seem very lack lustre. In a stand alone meal it would have been great and we admittedly agreed that had we chose a different main course with more separation of meat, like the duck, quail or chicken, we would have un-doubt-ably been more than impressed.

Lastly, there was dessert with tea. The tea wasn't anything special but once again the dessert kicked us back to wow mode. It was a slender, white, gelatinous square sitting on a base of raspberries. As expected the texture withheld its look but its taste started raspberry sweet with a cream filling. Then in an instant the palate of the gelatinous square turned sweet with a flavour of sweet that I can only describe as a flavour that only privileged people eat. That is truly what it felt like at that moment at this wonderful Saskatchewan find.

As I walked away from the establishment, my experience with the owner of 26 years, the knowledge that the sole advertisement for the place was through word of mouth and of course the flavour wonder of their food, I realized a few things. First off, considering the experience, the $150 plus price tag wasn't so bad, in fact, it seemed a bargain considering that it made the food in fancy Regina restaurants seem like rat poison for the same price. The atmosphere was more than great and I was full. Simply put, I have never nor do I think I will ever eat at a place quite like this in Saskatchewan... at least not until I return to the quiet little village restaurant known as the Hole in the Wall.

A Hundred and Five: Ode to Allan Bexson

2009-07-30T20:25:00.000-07:00

105, not a bad life for Allan Bexson. Dad, Grandpa, Great Grandpa, Great Great Grandpa; if you are counting that makes him the fifth generation of family roots. I remember my Great Grandpa as a strong man, man with a million stories and a man who lived them all. He had prize horse's and a farm which he ran well into his eighties (and had giant dogs that scared the hell out of me as a kid). He was energetic and electric. Just being in the room with him put you in your place. All of these things are how I remember my Great Grandpa.

A few months back he lost much of this seemingly in an instant. We visited him in a nursing home and although he displayed much of the same characteristics he just wasn't the same. When I heard the news, like last summer when my Grandpa died, I again diverted to the thought of my daughter. She was with us when we visited him last, I realized that this is how she will likely remember him. Any visit before she would have been too young to remember. I really wish our situation would have been better and she had the chance to remember him the way that I do. But then again I wish everyone got the chance to remember him the way I do.

Words cannot express how I feel about Great Grandpa, I wish I had more to remember him by. I wish I recorded his stories and I wish I could remember them in enough detail to share with you all. Although I all my wishes may not come true, I am fortunate that his life was important enough for people to take notice. I can google his name, although he may not even know what google is, lists of things will come up. We have tons of things around the house that will also remind me of him and how great he was and more importantly I believe I carry a lot of the same traits that he also carried. From nose to stories, I hope my life can turn out like his... well maybe not the nose part.

My emotions have been fairly mixed today as I ponder Great Grandpa's life. There is a part of me that feels no sadness, that he lived a full life, after all he was only a hundred and five. Then there is the part of me that remembers him like he was a hundred and four and I thought he was indestructible. Even at such an age I am still reminded that life is precious and fragile. All I can do is remember, think, rejoice and mourn. Things will move on and a little piece of Great Grandpa will always be with me.

Name Game

2009-07-29T17:16:00.000-07:00

The name Bernie makes me laugh. It's like the one name offspring of Bert and Ernie.

Does anyone else have a name that makes them laugh?

Light It Up

2009-07-27T13:11:00.001-07:00

There has been some moments of shining light in my, as of late, dim world. The light has come from two girls. I'll start with my daughter. She is the cutest little thing and nothing makes a stressful day a little better and more forgetful than receiving a call from her. As if that little voice isn't uplifting enough, but when the need for this urgent call is to pick a colour for my “folder” and another two colours for my “paper” to go into the folder is really a comforting break from the mess of film.

The other girl is my lady friend. She has been really great through all of this. She helps me out (I kid that she is my assistant as I do not get time to run my life), she is supportive and puts up with all my bitching about this job. Many a blog she knows before you all do. She also calls and I call her which again provide a welcome break from this garbage life. At times it seems like we are having a long distance relationship as I am gone when she is home but things seem to be going fine even though we never see each other. When I do get to spend time with her, only a few minutes most of the time, it comforts and relaxes me. I am much happier in her presence and all of this makes me appreciate her more. I guess the light at the end of the tunnel is taking a step closer every day and we both see it coming. Even more so now that I found out my job should end a week earlier, yay! So hang in there my girls I can't wait to see you again even though I haven't left the city, and thank you.

L.A. Sucks But I Want To Go There For A Holiday And Not Talk To People Unless I Can Order Them Around

2009-07-24T22:01:00.000-07:00

July 20
Things have been getting better although I hate the fact that I do very little work for the show. I have become a “yes man” and all I do is what ever keeps him happy. It's a long and boring time for me on set I still dislike it but I just don't care much anymore. I try to keep the dragon and bay so that others don't have to deal with him. And that is my job. On the bright side I have crossed that halfway hump. Things are only counting down now. With that I will stop blogging about this mess that I call life, not my life but someone elses, unless of course something ridiculous happens and I'll let you all know.

Pet Peeve...s of the day, Why is production paying for me to write your book for you? I know you can't type and it is apparent that you can't write either but why should production pay for your work to be done when it has nothing to do with them. The only reason is spinelessness. Everyone just wants to keep you happy and they don't care what I do to keep you from bugging them. Like so many examples you show in your book, yet obviously oblivious to them, people don't like working with you because you are high maintainence and you constantly cry like a baby to others about your issues. So as long as I keep you from doing this the rest of the crew can be moderately happy. As an extra pet peeve, why are you trying to live of the backs of others? When your book has 14 names and dropped in two paragraphs that don't make sense because of it, this only tells me that you want fame by living off the experience of others. It's a tad much. But I guess your story would be boring if someone famous couldn't be in it... and it would only be 3 pages rather than 500. And extra extra, don't blow a gasket on people on set in front of every body, we are half way through the shoot and you've done this 3 times. It's unprofessional and unfair. If you have an issue take the person aside. Then don't try to be their best buddy the rest of the day, this does not make things better it pisses people off more. Especially when it takes a crew of people just to make you moderately happy. Seriously 100 people all kissing ass and tyring to make 1 person happy while you stress them all out is complete BULLSHIT.

Name Calling

2009-07-23T10:43:00.001-07:00

A favourite part of my day is hearing others talk about la boss. I have received “your boss if s fucking cunt!” on the first day of shooting. On the second day another seasoned local filed grievances with the union and said “He's and idiot.” I constantly get “how is it going?” in that tone where they expect the worst, or “I don't know how you are doing it.” After the first weekend I received “Did you murder your boss this weekend?” “if you find a way to get away with it I'll help”. I have gotten “You have the worst job on this set.” as well as “he's a knob”. It may just be me but this is not a good thing. I hated my job one day into it. And two weeks later I just don't give a fuck. I'm like that lame kid working at McDonalds doing a sub par task really horribly. I have no want no drive I'm just working hoping only to collect a pay check. If I get fired the only thing I'll miss is the pay, and if this does happen I still might even say “thank-you.” Work is getting more bearable because of this attitude, plus I am doing less work and more fucking around or personal errands.

Los Angeles Is Like New York Laying Down... Or On Diva Pills

2009-07-22T15:51:00.000-07:00

July 14

I hate the fact that I feel so needy just to run someone else's life. To be quite honest if it wasn't for the support of the crew, office and the AD's in particular I likely would have quit by now. However this has been the first day that has been rather trouble free. Aside from the pain in my ass of running back and forth from work to set ever 5 min I did manage to get much done. I didn't get as much done as I should have but he was happy and left me alone for most of the day aside from “checking in”. If things continue like this it may be bearable and there is only 4 weeks left of shooting.

Pet Peeve of the day, I though buddhists were supposed to be nice and more carefree. What's with all the crazy diva demands? Does it really matter if the doors at your apartment creak? Is there ghosts moving them at night so you can't sleep? Is that even Buddhists belief? Not to mention your wife, is she really that pissy or is she just trying to establish some bullshit class separation between herself and those that clean up her shit? I don't get it, it shouldn't be a full time job just to schedule cleaners. And just because they are cleaners doesn't mean you get to treat them like shit. Where has the buddhism gone in this world? Because I don't think you are actually practicing and rather, like all things Hollywood, you are just putting on a show.

The Question That Could Have Been Great

2009-07-21T18:54:00.000-07:00

July 13

He started a rant at me today with “Do you want to get fired from this job?” I hesitated, thought about what I said and sadly said no. If I had said yes it would have been like quitting. But the thing I'd like to address is that yes it is a job. That's all it is to me now. I don't care what happens. My experience won't get worse or better and I have accepted that. So my answer is as stands “not really”. However immediately following this verbal beating I took I almost laughed in his face thus sealing my fate as fired. His rant went on about how I can't be doing all these things (which I'll add are for him) and that I have to be at his call and beckon ever second. ie. If he asks for something the time it takes to print it off is apparently too much as this is what started this whole thing. At the end of all this he finished with “So I need you to get me some crackers with almond spread.”

What? Is this what you were so pist about? Really? I almost laughed when he said it. So at least there are some moments of enjoyment for me.

Pet peeve of the day. If you are in power and you give someone a task you say is urgent and important. Don't harass them to get you coffee and tabs (post-it notes in lay mans terms apparently) and etc. And then proceed to berate them for not completing the aforementioned important urgent task or at the very least wait for things rather than be impatient.

Try To Survive Los Angeles Times

2009-07-20T14:41:00.000-07:00

July 9

I had to laugh today to hear the boss talk about other people's impossible demands. Him and a producer were laughing and having a good time with making other people seem unreasonable, on flights and various other perks that no one should get, yet all I could think was didn't you just do the same thing on this show? Having 4 $150 power cords and 3 fully functioning office suites with these power cords(and 3 of many things) in these offices just so you don't have to move things around, isn't that in excess? Not to mention an extra power cord at home because moving you power cord with your computer form upstairs to downstairs is too much to handle. How about getting production to hire an Assistant for you so they can do nothing but work on some shitty biography you are doing on yourself. I guess its a good thing though as someone will be forced to read it as no willing person would do, and your so incapable of doing it yourself when no one else will do it for you, lets face it your not interesting, your not famous and you are only living off the work of others. But hey its a good thing we got those American funds that is supposed to improve the quality of our filmmaking up here in Canada.

The wife and kid were on set today the the guy that owns the location has a captive lynx. They wanted to see it. They get out at our lunch break. So I track down the guy, he's eating his lunch, he is told this guy is eating and we'll bring him out to them on set. So the guy finishes and starts walking and out come all three of them. And I receive the why didn't you get us, so I say he just finished lunch and he says nothing walks by and mutters you just don't know. Know what? Your wife's a bitch.I found that out after dealing with her and a cleaner for 6 hours just because she was trying to be considerate, I guess you don't get that in L.A.

Pet peeve of the day: Directors who claim their greatness and others lessness, when they have the same tendencies. For example, discrediting certain directors for not directing and having the camera guy and actors do all the work when you sat down with the actors for 3 days to rewrite the script only taking their suggestions rather than inputting your own. This also reminds me of when they say things like I hate looking at myself please hang these pictures on my mirror so I don't have to, and look at pictures, 15:1 are pictures of him.

Living and Loathing Los Angeles

2009-07-15T13:59:00.001-07:00

July 8th

Are all L.A. People like this? If they are I want nothing to do with L.A. Ever again. I sit at work all day thinking about quitting. The problem with this is that, although I do not care about my boss I do care for the various others I work with. I have worked with all of them in the past and have not had issues. I would like to work with them again. They are good people. However if I quit I put pressure on them in which case doesn't look good on myself. They won't hire me back as they may think I'll quit again. Not that I really think this will happen, but I just want things to be smooth with those I will work with again.

However if I could quit and only have it affect my boss I would be happy. Which leads me to believe that I only have one solution, to get fired. If this happens there is nothing I can do about it and I am sure those who now have pressure on them will feel sympathy for me. And by sympathy I mean be happy for me. Less bridges would get burned. So now I wonder all day what is the best way to get fired. Should I punch him, although this would feel good probably not the best approach. Maybe tellign him off like “You're a fucking dipshit, how the fuck did you survive life? Oh yea your rich parents hired people to take care of you and that's why you can't manage your own fucking life. Go fuck yourself I've got better things to do with my time.”

So to clear things up my job sucks. I hate life b/c my job is my life right now. I have the feeling I get after a years worth of work when I don't want to do it anymore all ready. I cannot wait for it to end b/c the sad reality is I won't get fired, I won't do anything to get fired and he won't fire me b/c he is used to me. So the sad reality is Aug 21st is going to be one of the best days of my life...unless I get a job else where.

Pet peeve for the day: Not only do you have to babysit outsiders like my boss you have to babysit outsiders that come with them ie. Wives, husbands, boyfriends, girlfriends, kids, pets etc. Some times they can be even worse. After all for someone to tolerate someone who is unbearable must speak of their own virtue. I was reminded of this after dealing with the freshly flown in wife for half a day regarding a cleaner's considerate dealings. Not only did I have to deal with it, what ever faults may have happened with this issue had nothing to do with a cleaner who got the bitch treatment. Highly uncalled for, I wish I could say “fuck you lady, if you don't want to be here go back to L.A. You might get a way with treating people like shit there but here we'll fuckin' deck ya.” And to the cleaner who has been above and beyond great to deal with I am sorry, but I can't control other peoples actions.

Film World Wake Up

2009-07-07T20:46:00.000-07:00

I have 2 pet peeves today. I have more that I should not mention at this time however I have come to the conclusion that I should write a book about the more than average stupid things you have to go through working in film. I am pretty sure the stories would top the all with the the amazing idiocy in process just to get a movie made. And after all if my current boss can write a book I'm pretty sure mine would be better strictly judging on the fact that some one might actually read my book.

Moving on, is it really had to conceive a natural order to make movies.
Step 1 Write the movie
Step 2 Bring in a Director and re-write the movie to the point that no more changes need to be made
Step 3 Get Actors, if you really want, they can be part of step 2 how ever actors are stupid and will make this process longer, its a better idea not to give them a choice.
Step 4 Hire office, say this is what we need and this is when we need it, schedules, products and plans are all made
Step 5 Shoot
Step 6 Edit
Seriously is there a reason we don't do this? Is working a 14 hour day with people working weekends the answer? Does finding 6 solutions in one week sound more economical then finding one solution because you know that is what you need?

For some reason, show after show, they insist on a ridiculous high paced high stress environment that only provide mediocre performances from staff. Every one hates what they are doing and are sick of having things turned away b/c they had no direction to anything in the first place. It is fucking stupid. When will someone change it. Funders need to smarten up and be less skittish, producers need to fight for their employees, unions need to be less useless, money needs to be directed to places it needs to go and actors need to stop being needy whiney bitches (this goes for ACTRA as well).

Which brings me to one of my biggest pet peeves about this industry. I was reminded of the strange useless needs of actors when i over heard our co-ordinator on the phone to the hotel saying this: "We need all the rooms to be the exact same". While it sounds not so strange, I realize the message clearly to be: "if you give one actor a nicer room or different room than the others, I will be calling you back to change 8 more rooms so that no one has a better room, it really saves us both time because if there is a difference this will happen, its only a question of when, because that is what actors do the cry if they feel they have been mistreated."

Hope some of you enjoy your inside look at the film world. And next time you ask, its not fun at all, is should be but its not.

As Rider Fan I Immediately Regret This Blog But It Must Be Said

2009-07-05T21:01:00.000-07:00

As much as I hate to admit it, I am looking forward to the upcoming football season for the Eskies. For the longest of time I have been an adamant hater. I strongly feel that Ricky Ray is the equivolent to the mess found at the bottom of a 75 year old out house. I think Macoicia is the most overpaid under achieving individual in football history. Way to go Mac, you took a championship team and one only one championship with them. You're awesome.

Needless to say a lot of my hatred is at the hands of a few individuals. So this year with a few drastic changes I am looking forward to what they have to bring. I want to know how our old defensive core will hold up. I look forward to the success of Richie Hall who has served us Saskies so well over the years. These two reasons have become enough for me to be excited for the Eskimos and over ride a decade plus of hate. Although I hope the Riders crush them when they meet, I think the Eskies have a good shot at winning the cup and if they do I won't be too disappointed.

My new most hated teams are now Calgary and BC.

Goooo Riders!

Back To Work Angst: Let The Shit Show Begin

2009-06-24T19:43:00.000-07:00

I have never in my life been more upset and frustrated at work. It's been 4 days and I want to quit. I've never quit a job for the sake of hating it and I've worked some pretty shitty jobs. The difference is on those shitty jobs I didn't mind the people I worked with. They were all good hearted and good natured people, you know no jackasses. My problem is with dipshits. What I have learned in the last 4 days is that it is one thing to work with them it's another to work under them.

The really sad thing is that I can't blame anyone. I am mad at everyone but can't blame anyone. It's no ones fault that things are this way. The even sadder thing is that I fear that this is the way of things to come. Our new industry direction is American/Canadian productions. The problem is we aren't moving ahead as the productions we do get are going to be shit American shows that amount to nothing. So not only do we(canada as a whole) not make money it is also no good for the advancement of the industry. Effectively we have jobs, shit jobs that will likely not change or only get worse.

So at the end of the day I have a piece of shit on my resume that amounts to nothing and some American company got a tax break through my employment. When you add that to my disdain for my job and the bleak outlook I have, where is my encouragement to stay? Seriously someone else please hire me, I don't want to do this anymore. It's complete bullshit. I want a normal job where I can have time off to do my own thing. I'd be much better off with my own company doing what ever the fuck I want.

My Daughter Puts Myth Busters In Their Place

2009-06-20T23:43:00.000-07:00

Pure Genius.

The Lawyerhood

2009-06-11T11:21:00.000-07:00

For those at work and need a little more privacy and with links:

So I am now like %98 sure that I missed my calling. I am starting to face facts; I should have become a Lawyer. I have a cousin (note MoFo.com- Hilarious) that did it and if he could do it then I can do it. Anyways, I got a speeding ticket dropped and I never even had to go to court. I showed up for my court hearing at 9:30 this morning and talked to the prosecutor. He said it will be a moment. Then he disappeared into an office with some other people. At 9:40 the officer who I am up against comes in goes to the office and leaves. I wait. At 10:10 the people leave the prosecutors office and he casually comes out and suddenly sees me sitting there. He takes his jacket off and comes over and says: “Sorry about the wait, the officer came in and said the officer that worked the radar can’t come in until this afternoon. We’re not going to make you wait, it’s just a speeding ticket right? To which I say “yes”. He continues with “While I’ll put it in this afternoon and we will just drop the charge” and I counter with “thank you”. We bantered on a bit after this but it’s not important. The real issue is that the prosecutor seen my notes and feared the wrath of my arguments. Therefore I believe I am to return to school to become a lawyer.

Eureka Apex Tent and New Blog Format

2009-06-10T11:18:00.000-07:00

Filmmakers, Farmers and GM: Side Note I am Not Very Pleased With The Government

2009-06-02T08:57:00.000-07:00

Spoiler Alert:
This nonsensical rant may be nonsensical due to the graphic nature of the written tone.

Let's just say I think our government is a bunch of fucking monkeys. At the very least a group of assholes. Now before you get your political shit in a knot just hear me out, I do understand they have larger issues to deal with than my anger and self figuring out. That's really what this is about, to try and make sense for myself.

If you haven't heard our government bought into GM. They spent just over 10 billion to buy 12 percent of the company and take on debt load. Not to mention the debt load from going over budget in our own finances. For once I really feel sorry for Ontario. The people there are really getting bent over. All for the promise to make and engine here! What!? A fucking Engine, are you kidding me! Now I think this is all in effort to keep jobs for people. A noble task that the government is supposed to do. And the best part is, all this money is supposed to just be soaked up. Harper was on the news saying that they want to sell the company and plan on loosing this money! So really it looks like dollars well spent. The government says this is better for the economy, to have a few thousand people working in Ontario to make a product that in the end is likely going to fail to the competition. My favorite parts are yet to come. I especially enjoy the fact that they are not regulating the cash flow, meaning they expect 3 billion to go to pensions. This is my one of my favorite parts but I'll go more into to it in a bit. Another personal favorite is the the idea of the government working with the unions. I don't think I'm a far cry in thinking that this will never work. Correct me if I am wrong but weren't unions created to deal with the atrocities between the working sectors and the government? Do the same issues arise today and people still go on strike? Is this really the way to go when you are trying to make a more economical product and create a more viable company? Wasting time on money on union dues? Keeping the outlandish union rates? But I guess the government should know about overspending. And I can't wait until we have cars that have to take every other Friday off and you have to buy them in pairs so one can supervise. Yea that's right this entire thing is one big fucking joke!

By now you may be thinking that this isn't that funny and why they hell would this little art boy be so pissed off? Well the problem is that it wasn't too long ago the government put a halt on all of the promised cash to the film industry by the previous government. Why? Because it wasn't making money and they wanted to re-evaluate the industry. When they did this they decided that Canadian film and TV will never make money unless we partner with the US. Thus we get shows like FlashPoint. A great idea! So why not look at the economical effects of doing so. Instead of having all the key people from Canada and the entire show spending cash in Canada lets give it to Americans, we'll fuck the little stations like SCN and destroy a breeding ground for talent, after all no talent comes from Canada so lets make it impossible for someone to try and gain the necessary skills to be a leader in the industry. While our budget never changes from what we promises and we'll stick with that line to amuse the general public in the need to not support Canadian film. The best part for me is that our Provincial Government doesn't seem to care that SCN took like a 20 million dollar hit. I guess that's fuck all to bring into the province and spend it here as SCN requires. Do we even have a minister of film and television? If we do they are getting paid to do nothing, again great government spending. At least the government was right about one thing, the film industry does need to be re-evaluated, but not by dip shits who don't know what goes on. On the pension issue, how about paying for my pension as retirement is a great way to boost economic growth. The fucking piddly amount I get as government regulations should be all they get and it shouldn't come out of a fucking loan. Do you think RBC will give me a loan so I can plug it in my pension and then I'll just never pay them back and everything will work its way out. C'mon. Why not gamble by donating to UNICEF and see it if pays off for you!

So this brings me to why I am pissed off. The Government pays big dollars it expects to loose to save a failing company and they don't want to change anything in the daily operations of the company and they want to invest art funds into the American system in efforts to make money in something that will always boost the economy. The government wants to work with a union and pay pensions while every other Canadian would be told to fuck off! After all working with the union is going to drive costs down, keep jobs and make a product that is sell-able to the people Even though the money from every Canadian technically paid for all of this to happen. So after paying for it we get taxed on it and the government makes a few dollars. They also keep the jobs which means this people aren't on unemployment but they have to pay wages and pensions. Meanwhile all the people on unemployment, because the government won't just hand out money, are still being told to fuck off! Not to mention if GM goes under I'd hate to see the depletion of vehicles in Canada after all there are no other car manufactures here and even if there would be, there would be no way to work with them so that their all ready financially viable operations could expand and employ people and continue to employ people because the company is financially viable. I know that's asking a lot to line up and God is busy fighting Terrorists but even if it did happen and the government wanted to do something like that, wouldn't supporting a struggling Trillion dollar disaster just make more sense?

I feel more like a farmer everyday in this industry, you work your balls off for a period of a time to make your yearly income and in the end you fucked by the ones you appointed to govern you. The only difference is that at least our provincial government is doing something for the farmers. Farms and films can fail all over the country and millions of people can go into bankruptcy but we need to keep a car manufacturer for those thousand jobs and the products it makes. Everything else is expendable.

So to recap, Our genius government would rather support a shit company like GM rather than a real economic boost from the arts. GM, the largest North American vehicle producer for 70 some years making trillions of dollars over the years while the arts struggle to find funding and basically break even while supporting the local economies. I'm sorry GM but FUCK YOU! Your a bunch a dip shits that can spend your own fucking money you have it somewhere now use it. Act like a fucking business and sell your fucking mansions like any other fucking business owners. Stop dragging your fucking ways around and dragging countries economic turmoil into your own million dollar playground. And FUCK YOU GOVERNMENT! Why would you do this? Its like holding gun to your head and and betting that it won't fire. It's fucking stupid. I can't wait to see where it goes from here. Maybe, and only if we are lucky enough to and it's still an option, we can make the money back by investing in Enron.

The Sask Film Pool Debacle Lives Again

2009-05-26T10:29:00.000-07:00

So if anyone is following, I had an issue with the Sask FilmPool over their choice to screen a few pieces that I think are inappropriate for Saskatchewan. I have received a few comments and have made two posts all ready. Those post can be found here and here. However the most recent comments were basically a well thought out Essay that I thought worthy of sharing. And I will add a few tid bits.

Brett Bell said...
Hello M, thank you for responding to my comment. I do not read your blog very often, (I don't blame you Brett)and only recently came across your follow-up posting: I also took some time to consider my response, therefore my delayed reply.

To be clear, I do not speak on behalf of the Saskatchewan Filmpool, nor am I privy to the process that led to the screening you find questionable. I am however a long-time member.

First, to me it is disrespectful when an organization does not acknowledge receipt of communication from one of its members. I don’t know the full circumstances – or the tone – of your correspondence to the Filmpool, but I plan to inquire with its staff as to why there was no reply to your concerns.

I reread your original post, watched episodes of “The Meatrix” online, and Googled and read responses to “The Meatrix” both positive and negative (due to time constraints, I did not do so for “Frankensteer”). My purpose for doing so was not to make an argument for or against the content of the films, or their qualities: my efforts were to better understand your point of view, and your obvious passion for this subject. I will say that I didn’t find “The Meatrix” offensive. But nor did it change my meat purchasing habits.

In your previous post you detail what you find objectionable in the content for “The Meatrix” and “Frankensteer”, but as to how its screening might fail to adhere to a moral standard, I don’t think you’ve made a case. Appealing to a moral standard is difficult, as there will always be different yardsticks to consider; it is best to make arguments strictly based on the material presented rather than how it might be perceived by a myriad of viewpoints.

If you feel that there is material in these films that contravenes Canadian law, the federal Human Rights Act or the provincial Human Rights Code, there are mechanisms in place to pursue a formal complaint and you should do so. I don’t mean this as a goad. If I saw a film I believed was in serious contravention of a law, statute or code, then I would take appropriate action. (Disclaimers before films or television programmes are typically incorporated following legal advisement, so to get an organization to do such is thing is typically quite difficult and usually under threat of some kind of legal injunction.)

If you feel that there should be laws or codes to disallow such screenings, engage your local and federal political representatives and be as clear and reasoned as possible in your correspondence and arguments. (Using a pejorative such as “stupid” in an argument is read as being emotive, rather than disciplined, and proving that something is “stupid” in this context is therefore difficult.)

Steve Suderman’s “Over Land” is a film directly supported by the Filmpool, through grants and equipment. Another Filmpool-supported film that deals with rural issues is Lea Nakonechny’s “Two Museums”. In my opinion, both of these films are of a high caliber and deal with some of the issues you raise vis-à-vis the family farm. These films have indeed been presented and screened by the Filmpool (does the Filmpool’s involvement in these films then constitute a “moral” act, as opposed to the “questionable morality” of screening “The Meatrix”? I hope you see how this might be a difficult argument to frame under the guise of “morality”, as per my previous point.)

(cont. next post)
May 22, 2009 4:15 PM
Brett Bell said...
There is a difference between “argument” and “argumentative”: I speak of the classical idea of presenting an argument as being a clear and substantiated point of view, which does not have to result in a Michael Moore-style, argumentative, film. With many of the statistics you’ve cited in your original post – plus your enthusiasm for this subject – I think you could incorporate a complimentary point of view into your planned family farm/agriculture documentary with little difficulty. For example, as per your argument if there wasn’t industrialized livestock farming, there would likely be a major impact on the price and availability of meat. In my opinion, this is a strong point that would serve as one counter-argument worth incorporating.

I am certain that the producers of “The Meatrix” are making their films because they feel they are searching for a truth. Their truth may not be your truth, and your “garbage” may not be their “garbage” or my “garbage”. However I don’t think any documentary actually purports to find “the truth”; in this case, a documentary makes an argument and attempts to substantiate its point of view through relevant citations (and not successfully, in your estimation.) But I do not see how the screening of “The Meatrix” is outside of the Filmpool’s mandate, or why it entails its review. The mandate is not “to promote anything”; as clearly stated on its web site:

The Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative is a non-profit artist-run centre which supports encourages and assists independent visionary filmmaking in Saskatchewan. The Filmpool is committed to developing an awareness and appreciation of independent film which reflects the individual and collective cultural expression of Saskatchewan people.“The Meatrix” is an independent film; it is produced outside of Saskatchewan, but since its inception the Filmpool has presented or co-presented hundreds of films produced outside Saskatchewan. You may feel that your view of a “Saskatchewan stance” is de facto “the collective cultural expression of Saskatchewan people”, but as you haven’t defined what you mean by a “Saskatchewan stance” it would be presumptuous for me to draw such a conclusion.

It is unfortunate you chose to forego your membership, for if you strongly feel that the mandate of the Filmpool should be changed to not participate in the exhibition of particular films you could make a case at a board, or general meeting (however I do concede that this many not be appealing to you if the organization did not do you the courtesy of acknowledging your emails. The adage, “If at first you don’t succeed, try try again,” may offer little comfort, but it is often applicable when “fighting city hall”, as it were.)

I conclude with a point for you to consider:

At the top of your website you display a banner: “I exercise my Freedom of Speech through this site.” Now I do realize there is a particular story behind its creation, but I find it a contradiction that you are a proponent of freedom of speech in the context of your blog yet seemingly fails to be a consideration in your arguing against what films an organization chooses to screen. Freedom of speech is not limited to the individual being able to say what he/she likes; it’s also a tacit acknowledgement that others with differing, or countering opinions, may also do so. And again, if there’s something that you feel goes too far and contravenes any laws, then pursue further action through appropriate channels.

Quite frankly, if there was an argument to be made supporting child pornography, or the abuse of women – and let me be perfectly clear here, an argument to be made that did not contravene relevant laws or codes while doing so – then the people making them should be free to do so. I would not necessarily desire to sit through the resulting films, but to quote Voltaire, "I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write.”

I wish you best of luck with your film.

Respectfully,
Brett Bell
May 22, 2009 4:22 PM

I think the moral of this whole thing lies in my own hypocrisy. I do support freedom of speech, mine and others. I'm the type who promotes education and if something does happen that is out of your control be happy that you can teach others by it. For example, a while back on Gormely they were discussing people who have truck window stickers that say things like "Dodge the Fathers, Ram the Daughters", I would absolutely agree that it is in poor taste. Now, if my daughter would see that I would have to explain it to her and I'd be happy it was me explaining it and not the aforementioned truck owner. However when I can have a say or a choice, I don't have to agree with it on a moral standard. In other words, I'm not putting it on my truck.

Now, I think I must clarify, I am not against the screening or these particular shows, as I do agree with you, everything has its place, however, the fact that some actions were not taken due to the fragile nature of the shows upsets me. My response, admittedly more out of emotion rather than thought, likely confused this. The way the pieces are done can create the sense that they present the sole truth, I believe in the naivety of viewers, who would believe this to be the truth and be affected by it. I strongly feel this is the exact response that the filmmakers of each program want, for people to feel that it is not objectionable and for people to predictably believe meat and meat process is bad. This to me is of malicious nature. Are there laws against such things? Yes, but freedoms and rights make it hard to prove. The truth is, they present facts, some are half facts cut together with negative facts only. This has an effect on people. For example, I am a strong believer that our voting turn out is result of this: the ads seem to say Don't Vote for Harper, Don't Vote for Dion, Don't Vote for NDP ect. so who are we supposed to vote for? Also the facts in one country are not the same in the other. For example, the American birthrate is 14.1 per 1000 people, Canada's is 10.8. Exact same fact, different number. Now for example, each show says that the meat processors use Radiation to sterilize meat and that this is unsafe. First, the Unsafe part is perspective and there are limits to radiation. Just ask your Radiologist next time you break an arm. Second, the process is only used in the US and not Canada, a fact Frankensteer chooses to leave out. Although they are correct that some processors use radiation, it just doesn't happen with any beef you can get in Canadian supermarkets due to laws. Does the audience understand this? I also think presenting only one view point is hazardous. This is how Hitler used the media. He presented one view point and hit repeat. Steve's show could have brought balance for people to make an educated decision at that screening.

Moving on, I feel it should have been up to the Film Pool to discuss the nature of the films, to warn that there is fact in here but you must research it to know the entire fact. The real truth is that farming is done with the utmost respect. The people doing this care very deeply and know more than you about the situation. Their product goes to the public and their own children, so they too are concerned about the hazards and are doing the best they can. They work in a harsh environment because they care, they work because they want to and the sad reality is that it is fading away. Let's face it, their profession is a lot more important than film and we should support their advance rather than try and halt it. Especially here in Saskatchewan.

Once again, the truth of things is the nature of all of this. The truth is, both shows are argumentative as you put it. They offer a slice and not the whole truth. They offer a very negative slice that I don't think anyone would appreciate if it were presented against what they do. I feel that in this province, ingrained with agricultural background and with farmers constantly fighting to have any rights the common worker has, that these presentations are in bad taste (hypocritically this was my take as well, saying not to support the film pool). I tried to do what I could and nothing happened. The original blog was the balance I was looking for, in hopes that those at the screening would search the movie titles or Sask Film Pool and stumble on my site so that the other side could get presented. I was angry and it did take sometime to get over it. I feel the film pool has its place and was well within their rights to screen the shows and many others I may not agree with. I am upset that they did not respond to my concerns and take action but also understand that my emotion likely gets in the way. I don't know exactly what I sent in that email to them but I am sure it wasn't all nice like butter tarts. Where it really lies for me, is in morals. I do not agree with them and that is where my true moral position lies. I am a firm believer of not supporting what you don't believe. So when I have the choice or opportunity I make it so. Nothing against the film pool (anymore/for now) but it's my decision. They really didn't do anything wrong, but according to me, it was in poor taste. What I'm really getting at is that it was overwhelmingly disappointing to see the filmpool fall to this bad taste. I had higher expectations and to me they dropped the ball. I used to think that the filmpool was above that type of filmmaking and would rather support local causes and people. It was this bitter disapointment that I based my descision on. I don't want that truck sticker on my window so to speak.

So Brett, I hope that clears a few things up, and I must admit you are out of my league as far as arguments go. I am happy you took the time to come down a level and maybe our discussion can go on. For now I'll leave it at that and google your oh so familiar name to me.

UPDATE May 28, 2009

After a few days of pondering I don't feel so hypocritical as I once did. I do criticize the shows however I do offer links to them in the first blog. Also my own argument as "stupid" at shows merely refelct in as a taste which is what the shows did themselves. So I question why a comment like this is hypocritical of something that is hypocritical it's self. Kind of like multiplying two negatives maybe a strange way of looking at it.

Beaver: True North Strong and Ewwww!

2009-05-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

No I am not referring to porn or any other misuse for the term so try and keep your mind out of the gutter. A while back I seen this documentary about beavers. It was the most incredible thing I had ever seen. The HD Channel had is as Beavers: Dam It All. The Internet provides very little into this show and until recently I forgot about it.

Even longer ago I seen a documentary about wolves specifically about a guy that lived with wolves. What I remember about this show was that the guy went out in the wild and lived with wolves. He set up a tent and then "marked hid territory". I remember this because I was amazed, the wolves from the den a few hundred meters away accepted this a a territorial barrier and did not cross.

In an effort to rekindle my spirit with this nature fascination I found myself on the library website searching for wolves. To my excitement I found a show called "Living With Wolves". Although it was not the aforementioned documentary it was very good in its own right. But the big thing was that it depicted the filmmaker Jim Dutcher filming beavers in a house.

Could it be that this guy is the same guy who made the documentary that I thought was the greatest nature doc I had ever seen? So back to the library. Low and behold I find a few DVD's on beavers. One entitled Beavers: The Biggest Dam Movie You Ever Saw. My docu-gem is found. I guess they re-packaged it to sell to HD networks. Either way I highly recommend you watch this movie.

However this blog was inspired by a different show. I also took out a DVD called Wild Encounters: Volume Three. The show is an old informative nature series that was aired on National Geographic so its got street cred. The particular volume has beavers and moose.

I'll set the scene for you. I calmly make lunch and plug in the DVD as I have done so many times. This time a delightful documentary about beavers. I make some fish and noodles which turned out to be very delicious. I sit down look up at the screen and hear "beavers cannot digest their food properly. In a special section of their lower intestine grow wood eating bacteria. This bacteria digests the wood. The result, once a day, the beaver has special nutrient filled feces which are immediately eaten by the beaver." And sure enough there was the accompanied image of a beaver sucking on his ass.

Up until this point I always thought of the beaver as an appropriate icon for Canada. They were hard working, family orientated and in the early days sought after by our monarch. Now not so much, I always knew they were considered a rodent, in fact the worlds largest rodents, however I never thought that much in to it. Like all rodents they eat their poop. This lone fact makes me want a new national emblem. It's times like this I am thankful for the Canada Goose. If anyone ever mentions the beaver I'll politely say "The Canada Goose is our national animal."

Inappropriately but fitting that's all the poop fit to scoop. Now watch the wolf and beaver movies and lets never talk about this issue again.

How Can Be Women Superficial

2009-05-13T11:22:00.000-07:00

I was out with an old friend yesterday and we ended up discussing of all things girls, if you could imagine. He's had recently become a single man and was working out of town. While he was doing so he was living with a friend who had lots of money and a Ferrari. He said "You don't know how easy it is to pick up girls when you roll up to a bar in a Ferrari".

This struck me as being a bit insane. Do women care what kind of a car men drive? If the answer is yes its likely not because they are a gear head, although they can exist. They like it because it is a sign of money and class. They don't care what the car is they just know it looks expensive and if that is the case the man has money. I really question this in the case of women who just want to hook up. Either way the fact of the matter was his friend basically made his way around hooking up with women. he had no job and all his cash came from inheritance. So there are a lot of girls out there sleeping with this guy because he looks like he has money.

I am pretty sure you could go anywhere in the country and find this to be the case. Guys who look like they have cash and like to spend it will get chicks not because they are great guys but rather they may have money.

Misbelief

2009-05-05T13:51:00.000-07:00

Not to long ago I finished a book called Real Life X-Files Investigating the Paranormal written by Joe Nickell.

I mislead by the title and I was hoping to find a lot of truth to some of the episodes of the series. The RPL description was very vague. When I got the book I was delighted to read that he had been a lead investigator on many X File type cases. I skimmed the chapters only to more excitement it dealt with a lot of things I thought were interesting. One thing bothered me though and that was the phrase arm chair skeptic.

As I was soon to find out skeptic is an understatement. He basically debunked any notion of any X File having a legitimate claim. The more I went on the more depressed I got. This man was ripping away the very nature of what makes things wondrous and great. Worst of all his arguments made sense. I didn’t want to read his book any further than the first chapter but I kept my hopes up that at least one claim would be unexplainable.

This led me to questioning my own beliefs. Was I neurotically hopeful that the unexplained exists? Why would I want things to be unexplained? And I started to realize that hope is one of the greatest human assets we have. If there still was mystery and excitement in the world how could I not be intrigued? That’s what the X Files offers, hope, the hope that there are things out there out of our control and that these things put our lives in perspective.

I continued to read his book and began to find the hope I was looking for. Between his forecasts of hysteria and hallucinations Joe Nickell did leave some things out and some of his evidence contradicted itself. He would offer solutions on one issue and that was the answer when that solution is completely ignored as positive evidence on another issue.

So now what I am left with is a disbelief in some things like spontaneous combustion but still left with the hope that out there somewhere Sasquatch is watching. I still believe something are left unanswered yet my beliefs have been temporarily crushed…until I forget all about this book and loose rational for mystery.

Swine Flu is the New Bird Flu

2009-04-30T21:15:00.000-07:00

People are stooopid! Why the hell are people so scared that 34 people in Canada have swine flu? Does any one in Sask care as we have not one case? I know I don't care and think its ridiculous that we are on the verge of calling it a pandemic. It's 34 people who are alive and well. Do we do the same during cold season when thousands are suffering? Are we in a state of crisis and pandemic then? Why arn't we concerned with things like heart disease and cancer? I think these long running issues are more important, especially considering that a little antibiotic rids swine flu. Why do we keep comming up with these health risks? Bird flu, BSE (even though it doesn't affect us), SARS,Is it just a campiegn of fear? What the hell are people thinking if this is a pandemic than a gas build up should be one. I am having a tough time believing any health expert these days b/c I know tomorrow there will be something that's a greater risk to my health but I'll likely never come in contact with it...or they'll change their minds.

Paper or Plastic

2009-04-22T10:25:00.000-07:00

Well I've put off post 200 for a while now so I guess its time.

This monumental occasion is brought to you in part by Fafard Fairways and the letter T.

Paper or plastic, yes its an environmental blog. For those that know me or at least follow my blog career you likely know by now I have issues with popular thoughts on ruining the environment. I hate the people who tell me how it is all the while they have put no thought into it themselves and have just regurgitated what Al Gore said. People are in uproar when Canada talked about pulling out of Kyoto even when statistics tell you that its not working. We argue over the cause of Global Warming all the while the science community has mixed opinion about it. So the logical answer to all of this is to write a book about your opinions, fly all around the world to promote it and let your rented SUV idle outside while you deliver a speech.

What it really comes down to is simple daily decisions that we all have to make. I was at Safeway today and the till lady asked me if it was fine to use a special Earth Day bag. I said yes. Two things struck me about the bag 1. Madison in Grade 4 coloured it very well and 2. It is paper. It really felt like a slap in history's face. We've come all this way and the decision that lays before me is right out of the 50's; Paper or Plastic? According to Earth Day we had it right before then. There was no decision and paper is all we had. I feel like a broken record preaching about how our changes we make now are not necessarily the right ones even if we think they are. The thing is we are capable of learning. From this we have to move on and all I ask of people is to think about environmental issues before opening their mouths to regurgitate what someone else said.

Don't believe what you hear on TV or read in books, come up with your own grasp as to how things are affected around you and what you see happening. To all those writing books on the issue you should be ashamed of yourselves there is no reason to use that paper and energy just to be hypocritical. Put your dam books on the internet it would be better for the environment.

It really is simple things like paper or plastic and these decisions are not rocket science.

Blogging While Dropping A Duece

2009-04-06T12:26:00.000-07:00

I think I have discovered the most ingenious thing; blogging on the can. Really it can save you time and it avoids the need for countless items on the back of the toilet.

Now Pee Wee before you get mad I am not blogging on the shitter right now...I did think about it which inspired this blog but rest assured that your laptop has not left its length in the living room.

Now what I did come to conclude was that if I had the money and designed my own home the bathroom would have a computer built into it. With Wireless internet one could blog while pitching a loaf. Genius.

I have provided a diagram to help inspire the uninspired.

The Be All End All; Denouement 's Suck

2009-04-04T20:38:00.000-07:00

For those unfamiliar with literary terms or those in need of a tune up the Denouement is defined as:

1 : the final outcome of the main dramatic complication in a literary work
2 : the outcome of a complex sequence of events

At least as stolen from Merriam-Webster.

In recent months I have done a lot of reading and have come to the conclusion that the denouement is of no use to me. Or at least I like it very little. These parts are the boring come all together end of a story and that thought hits me in the face like a karate kick, they are boring. You get a high with the climax then followed by pages and sometime chapters of things that don't really matter any more as the reason you have read the book has past. Essentially you loose minutes and hours for no enlightenment of your daily life or educational purposes.

You also see this in movies, Lord of the Rings took an extra 40 min. of ending that wasn't really necessary. However I recently watched a movie that did get my respect as far as how the story ended. The movie was The Karate Kid. I'll summarize, climax-he kicks the guy in the face, denouement- he wins trophy and star wipe to credits. That is what made and continues to make movies like this great. You end with the emotional and spirited high of "yes he kicked ass" and you leave with this high. It makes you want to forget about all the negative messages in the movie like its okay for old asian dudes to shit kick teens or the greater theme if you want respect you must fight and kick a guy in the face to win it. No you don't remember that, instead you walk out with the thought "that was awesome how he kicked him in the face" or "I want to take karate and kick people in the face".

I digress a little, but I think you see my point, I dislike the evil D and the sad pathetic truth is that I only read past every books metaphorical kick in the face because I want to finish the book to the end. I hate that I take my time to do so every time. Hopefully writers read this and make better endings for me.

Gimme A Head With Hair... Really?

2009-03-24T09:51:00.001-07:00

From time to time I blog about hair. Kind of ironic but I have just come to realize that it seems to be and obsession for me. No not that I have it, just what I do with it and for some reason I blog about it.

For those that may not know I am balding. Slowly but its going. In recent years I have noticed that it has slowed almost to a halt and I have done nothing for this. I do anticipate another spurt of hair loss in which I go entirely bald. Until then I will inform you about my haircuts. Yesterday was my first haircut in almost 3 months. It felt good to cut it off. Then I thought "Why does it feel good?"

In those 3 months my head grass grew I started reading a book entitled Bald. The book goes through all sorts of myths and facts about bald people, balding and social repercussions. It has comics, quotes and poems. Absolutely everything that even relates to the word bald or the process people go through. So my obsession of hair took a learning curve. I have learned a lot from this book and would recommend it to any bathroom reader.

Also I came across an older gentleman who was insistent on Propecia. A pill that does in fact help stop a receding hair line (thank you book) and its not rat piss like Rogain(also thank you book). Through his praise of the pill I thought "What do I care if I go bald? If it was meant to be it was meant to be."

So now I'm back at yeasterday and I cut my hair and you find yourself asking "Where is this going? What inspired this blog? Where did the last 10 min go?" Well I started to think of pros and cons of cutting my hair and eventually of being bald. The book goes through some of these but I haven't reached those chapters yet. However I felt it was my social responsibility to share my pros and cons with you.

Cutting Hair
Pros- Your head feels lighter
-you use less shampoo and conditioner thus saving you monies
-you are filled with good hairdays
-your hat fits better
-the wind doesn't blow it causing you to pay attention to your stupid hair
-pure comfort, I have never had long hair on the side of my head, through all the mullets and undercuts the hair there has been short.

Cons- the first time you wash your hair you wast shampoo
-you have to get your hair cut it takes time and its a pain in the ass
-your head gets cold on cold days and burns on warm days

Balding
Pros-You don't have to do your hair
-you can shave the little hair you have saving cash and time
-you also save on product
-some chicks dig bald heads(my uncle told me so)

Cons-Your bald

That's all I have for now feel free to elaborate on my lists and add your own.

That's Just Gay

2009-03-24T09:50:00.000-07:00

Is masturbation considered gay sex?

The Pub Conundrum

2009-03-18T10:48:00.000-07:00

Happy belated St. Patty's Day everyone.

I don't know why but the idea of owning a bar has always appealed to me. Yesterday got me thinking again, if I were to own a bar it would likely be either an irish pub or a Bushwakkers type place. I would want to stress beer as the strong hold and have a fairly relaxed vibe with regulars like Cheers. Then I started thinking; what would I name the place?

I really have no good name for a bar so I naturally started to look elsewhere. First it was to other bars but then I realized it couldn't be a bar name in Regina. However I do think that the best bar name is The Crown and Hand which is located in Regina but I couldn't name my bar that. There has always been one other place that I thought would make an excellent bar name. When I moved out to the west side I came across a dog grooming operation called Wags and Whiskers. To me it sounds like it should be some kind of euro-slang for guys and gals. It sounds fitting for a pub.

So to all the readers what is your favorite Bar name and why? What would you call a place if you had one? And where is my cell phone?

Back To Idiocy; Thought For A Cold Day

2009-03-11T13:06:00.000-07:00

Hey kids! Just a random fun thought and question for the day. You know how on cold days you breath out and the moisture and heat of your breath turns into an instant fog? Does that happen when you fart on days like today(-30c)? Like instead of a blue angel it would be a white angel or bring new meaning to snow angel. Have any of you seen this happen from a fart? I haven't but maybe trousers would have to be dropped and a bare ass out in order to see it. Pants are some kind of vapor barrier. The word pants makes me laugh.

The Saskatchewan Film Pool Revisited: Please Watch Steve Suederman's Over Land

2009-03-10T08:12:00.000-07:00

Last summer I posted a blog about a film screening of two shows I thought were utterly disgusting for a Saskatchewan institution to promote and play. I was embarrassed to be working in a field that could be so dirtballish and bend facts in something that to me is supposed to represent truth. If the pieces were funny I may have wrote them off as mocumentary like Spinal Tap, however they were hurtful to something that this province stands for. My rant on the shows was actually pretty good so if you need a refresher here is the link. For now I digress on the shows.

I often google publicacts to get into it, not really sure why, however I noticed this post had been up in the search engine, that usually means there has been some activity on the post. So I checked it out. To my surprise I found a comment posted about a week after I posted the blog. To save you the time here is the comment.

Anonymous said...

As a member of the Saskatchewan Filmpool, I invite you to consider joining the organization. The Filmpool's mandate is to promote independent filmmaking, and not a particular ideological viewpoint. If you wish to make a film or video that provides a counter-argument to these particular films, chances are good that the Filmpool would support it.

Otherwise, if you know of any existing films that provide such a counter-argument, you could write a letter to the Filmpool suggesting that they screen them. I'm guessing that another organization partnered with the Filmpool to put on this particular screening; perhaps you could find an organization willing to co-host a pro-cattle industry screening.

I would like to clarify somethings for this poster if they manage their way back to the acts.
1. At the time I was a member, that's how I knew of the event. I was also curious to see what the shows had to offer, I felt that maybe I was missing something and watched them on the internet.
2. Since this incident I am doubtful that I will ever join the film pool again, your mandate should be about more than just promoting independent productions, if a show is stupid and offensive to people it is about I think that is mandate enough to not show it. The other thing is when something is misleading and will likely be shown to a group of individuals with no prior knowledge of what the show is about, you can really do some damage to the reputations of others to those viewers. Its malicious, and defamatory which there are laws against. These shows are every bit as bad as a racial comment. This makes me question the morality of the film pool and the media. The CBC has a mandate to promote the Canadian viewpoint why can't the film pool promote Saskatchewan's stance?
3.I have a show I want to do but not to counter the argument b/c I am above the "George Bush is a big dumb idiot/Micheal Moore is a big dumb idiot" argument bullshit. There is no point in fighting over idiocy. However I do have ideas to promote farming as it is a dieing way of life that Saskatchewan is founded on. To show that farmers are caring hardworking individuals who are doing a task that with out them the rest of us don't get many of the pleasures we have come to know in daily life. The fact that making a living off farming is almost impossible and the fact that these people are a special breed because in an industry that should make you go insane they prevail and somehow raise a family.

The last part of your comment is the one that really got me. At that time another existing film on farming was well within your reach. It was a film about the loss of a family farm and how it affect those in the family. It was called "Over Land" and was done with the film pool by a local known as Steve Suderman(I hope I spelled that remotely close steve). I also sent the film pool 3 emails concerning this.

The first letter was about 3 weeks before the screening and I asked that they do not show these films in respect for the Saskatchewan way of life. I did not offer the examples I originally posted only to say that the films are wrong and if you have questions I'd gladly explain how. I also offered for them to keep the farm theme and show Steve's film instead which is a more realistic view of farming. I got no response.

The second letter I sent about a week before the screening. Offering that I know it is likely to late to change the shows however there should be a warning before each show. I even offered how the warning should go ie. "The Meatrix is american it in no way reflects that of the Canadian beef industry and the meat in our grocery stores." There was no warning at the screening.

The third letter I wrote after the screening when all my anger at the film pool for not listening was build up. I said how disgusted I was with them for promoting such garbage and how those in the part that night should feel duped.

It was at this point I also decided to write this blog. I was furious and hoped that those who had attended the screen would read my post and realize the bullshit they just sat through. I felt all those that slandered the way of life in this province should feel that same wrath. I eventually felt bad for being slanderous towards the film pool but didn't want to get into everything again. I guess my point is that I think the film pool has a long way to go, you can't just have a mandate to promote anything. I didn't see a film that night on why child pornography and woman abuse is a good thing. My point is you have a mandate, a film like I just mentioned is stupid and I like to think the film pool would have the sense not to play something like this. Your mandate also needs to be concerned with the Saskatchewan model as well as film models like a documentary should aim to find truth.

As far as finding an organization I am sure a simple google will find you plenty, if that doesn't maybe take a walk in two of Canada's largest agricultural shows that are hosted in Regina every year, Agribition or the Western Canadian Farm Progress Show. Its pretty easy to find, just like Saskfilm, SCN or the Saskatchewan Film Pool. And as always the government has answers, I am sure the minister of agriculture would be all for and very helpful in setting up screenings for farm promotion across Canada. They could tell you when and where is a good time. After all it is the Governments job to help you out. However if you pay well enough I can do it for you.

That RBC Commercial No Body Likes

2009-03-07T13:47:00.000-08:00

I know many of you do not like the RBC commercial to carry the torch. Strangely youtubers seem very supportive of the commercial. I however am not. I like most of those that read this blog am not a fan and am here to offer a few suggestions of how this commercial embodies everything that is wrong with the world.

Like so many companies have done before this is a blatent attempt to pull at the heart strings of consumers or costomers to improve company image although having nothing to do with that company or what they do. Tacky friendly song "You and me", you ever stop to think who is "me"? Are we supposed to look out for corperate interest? Is the corperate intrest of the bank the enviroment? Is this why RBC sends me 5 letters a month in the mail for new credit cards, intrest rates and what ever else they want to let me know? Serisously I online bank I'm sure everything paper "me" sends can be sent through my RBC account. This isn't rocket science. So just to clarify I find this commercial makes RBC look like a bunch of hypocritical twits. Banking is about money not the enviroment also if you are going to talk big, RBC you need practice what you preach.

Music; a commonly accepted form of self gratification

2009-02-24T08:16:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about this for a while now and I am going to start this blog with a story of realization. I was at this party filled with many art types. From the moment I walked in the door I noticed the music. It started with some rap I have never heard before, kind of a kick back to 80's rap yet obviously very new. I had never heard any of it before and when I found out what it was realized that it was popular enough to be liked by many yet just under the radar so as not to be a sellout rap superstar. Then mixed in was some usual young art types indie rock and scream-o music full of emotions and the lack there of in today's society, oh the shame. And just for kicks a few songs along the lines of B-B-B-Bap-Poker Face. Yep it was ultra hip urban party.

Usually I'd be in for this kind of music but for some reason it was off to me. I started to think about why? I've never been the really obsessed with art type, in fact quit the contrary I find the pedestal of being an artist really hypocritical and totally bullshit. However I got the feeling just from the music that I was wrapped in this world. Then the realization came to me; Music is only good if you find it! Even though I would normally be open to an 80's kick back rap or scream-o music that I had never heard before I was uptight because of my situation and who was presenting it to me. I realized music although enjoyed by virtually everyone is really a selfish act. That is why when ever you get in a discussion about it people are really passionate about it. You some how affect them personally with what you say about music even thought they have no real connection to the music other than they like it.

Now normally I'd like an 80's rap kick back or scream-o song however due to the situation and my own disconnect with those around me I was not in to it. Absurdly admitted, if I heard those songs on a different day in a different situation, like on the radio while driving by myself, I would likely be into the songs. Selfish I know but I'm sure if you all think about it you've all experienced this as well. I decided to test it out.

Last year I was working on something and came across a local talent with something I had never heard before. It wasn't all that polished but it had loads of potential and I fell in love with it. The band is known as Dear Solace. It's really one guy. The music is a blend of everything and I thought hey a good local act with enough catchy sounds should be right up the alley of all these people. So I load up the myspace and let'r'rip. It made it slightly into the second song(I even played covers-Message In A Bottle then With or Without You) and it got shut off. No one knew it, nor gave it the chance even though it was likely every bit as good as the music they were listening to and recognizable. I smiled and thought again; Music is only good if you find it.

Now I could be completely wrong in feeling this but over time and with this story I have come to conclude for now; people, especially those who like music have this weird connection to it and are usually unwilling to accept others opinions on it. You usually have to play a song a couple times for friends and loved ones before they will accept your view that it is in fact a good song. It is just the way it is. Whether it is a theory like this or just how music moves you it really is just another form of self gratification.

I am also a fan of Froh's other band The Holly Springs Disaster, it is not like Dear Solace at all and I am amazed when ever I think out his versatility. The more I listened to it the more I came to like THSD even though it wasn't my taste at all. Keep listening.

10 Fictional Characters I'd Like Alone Time With

2009-02-03T08:43:00.001-08:00

In no particular Order...

1. Jessica Rabbit-Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Easily the hottest cartoon ever. We'll never see another movie quite like this (live action old school animation) and Jessica stole the show forever melted into the minds of many young men world wide all wishing she was real.

2. Rachel Green-Friends. In the very first episode Rachel was the star. World wide people loved her and it single-handedly made Aniston a house hold name. Even in the shows make up Rachel was perceived by the other characters as the pretty one. I'll give the other girls credit as the show went on they all got hotter but so did Rachel. Her only flaw, albeit the shows only flaw; Ross.

3. Nancy Callahan-Sin City. I hated this movie! Fancy look but that wore off fast when the story seemed stupid. If they made an entire movie of the Alba played Callahan they would have been far better off.

4. Beezlebub-Bedazzled. This gave all new meaning to Sleeping with the Devil.

5. Mystique-X-Men. She very well could be the best one as she can shift into any other woman on this list and more.

6. Catwoman-Catwoman. All that leather, all the moves, dark and mysterious how can you go wrong. It doesn't matter whether shes a comic or who plays her in live action the end result is hooooott! Also its a Halloween costume I never get sick of seeing.

7. Daria-Cradle 2 The Grave. She's a jewel theif just trying to stay family. As an added bonus she dances, her moves comming a long way since Bring It On.

8. Gwen Pearson-Van Wilder. "Are you stalking me? Because that would be super". Van said it best "She's smart, she's beautaful and she can skate." What more do you want?

9. Dr. Lisa Cutty-House. Very smart and I get the feeling she wouldn't let me get away with shit, however she does have a spunky fun side that you see and never get to explore. I think I missed this episode.

10. Veronica Vaughn-Billy Madison. She started it all, hot love interests for Adam Sandler.

Well that's it, if you have some of your own to add feel free. I now leave you with this one last clip to think about .

Long Overdue Points In Point Form

2009-01-22T08:55:00.000-08:00

* So Long John Gormely- While my car had some major issues ie. new engine being put in please see the word "fuck" in the dictionary for further information, I was left with mom and dads car. Now the giant 32 dead hooker sized trunk aside one of the things that did suck was the fact that the car only has a tape deck. Hence John Gormely, on long drives home and back for hockey or over the holidays John became my saving grace. He kept me up, not like with music but generally with emotion. He always got me worked up and many others until one day I realized that us Saskies are very passionate individuals. Now that I have my car back John Gormely is gone so I pay tribute with my favorite topics; Is it appropriate to have inappropriate things popularized ex. bumper sticker that says "Dodge the fathers, Ram the daughter", Should the driving rules change for young drivers (my answer is no they need more training however they should change for seniors) and lastly well that's all I can remember. Its been good John.

*It frustrates me that I get hurt and can't play hockey, then when I can play I can't because I have all this other crap to do.

*I have started watching the X Files season one, it is the greatest show ever made. House reminds me a lot of X Files so if you like House and Missed the Files your local library has DVD's.

*The girlfriend has left me for Mexico. 2 questions for you 1. Who's is this Mexico and Where can I find him? 2. Who wants beat him up and steal his tacos?

*Hello John Gormely- So my car lasted a week something is wrong with the router or CV Joint Please see "Fuck" again in the dictionary. So with a few hockey games coming up me and Old John will make our acquaintances again. I can't wait to get angry and maybe I'll blog about it.

*Please also see the Road Rage link on the side for more blogs but specifically about traffic.

Happy blogging everyone.

12 Blogs Of Christmas

2008-12-24T18:08:00.000-08:00

Well it is that time of the year and I have a few things I have noticed this year and a few things that I just think are interesting and a few stories that are in the spirit, so with all those ands and conjunctions I bring you My 12 Blogs Of Christmas but likely not 12 blogs.

1. Why do we give into consumerism every year it stresses us out. I know I hate shopping especially at this time of year and at the tills you see a lot of frustration on peoples faces. Not to mention stressing over the thought of what if that person got me something so I should get them something or the simple what do I get so and so. Its really strange. I finished the bulk of my Christmas shopping in Oct. due to my lack of job now, and it was the best division I made. But even the last min. gifts stressed me out but not as much as previous years. I also am really liking the not getting the girlfriend gifts and doing something with her instead.

2. Trin is unsure weather Santa exists or not? She asked me last year and I told her as long as Santa keeps bringing yo presents does it really matter? She said I guess not, so I told her to make up her own mind and believe in what she wants to believe but to be curious about other peoples beliefs. This seemed to console her. I asked this year what she thought and she still didn't know and pretty much recited what I told her last year. Then she said she wants to beleive b/c it makes Christmas better. I think it was sound advice from a 9 year old. Either way is there an appropriot age you should break the news?

3. There is a commercial on the radio for a spa that says "By know you have heard all the ads that promise the perfect gift but they are all lies, and who lies at christmas time?" So true. To this I say the best Christmas gift is beer. The gift of beer provides a friendly gesture, will always please the reciever and provide the time you need to socialize with friends, family or foes. After all isn't this really what Chistmas is about, getting together ahving fun and enjoying those around you?

4. Why are girls gift crazy? Since elemetal school girls give girls presents. I don't understand it. Meet them at a bar and buy beer. That is all that is needed and likely is better than anything you buy each other.

5. How do the reigndeer fly? I don't get it.

6. I am jacked for the juniors as I am every year however the sporting event I have really come to enjoy is the SportsCenter year in review. Its all the goodness, except for lame basketball stories (thank god there is hardly any), of the whole year and it is fantastic.

7. There was a news report on the TV the other night that the worst gift to give someone is a pet. This was because of the cost to maintain and various other aspects. The top selling gift this year happened to radios. The old school tech has made a surge with newschool as tiny ipod devices with radios built in are this years highest sellers. In both cases I could think of better things for each Worst: Cell Phone- b/c the up keep like a pet is there and they are hazadous on the road as well as many other reasons. One that should be the top seller- Chia Pet- 30 yrs latter and still amazing. OK I kid but any electronic is usually high on any list and could make a decent argument to replace radios.

Well that is all I can think of for now. Enjoy the Holidays and I'll see you on the flip side of Christmas!

MedicineHat: Alberta's City of TV Champions

2008-12-19T21:28:00.000-08:00

Or little Edmonton as I like to call them.

I am not sure where it started but I have come to realize that MedicineHat loves itself. More so it loves its people like itself. And even more so when it comes to TV. I remember years ago when this thing was sweeping the nation known as Canadian Idol. I also remember my brother being pissed off that he couldn't use his phone as the the MedicineHat phone service could not handle the volume of MedicineHat self love. Yes that's right the phenomenon was Kalan Porter. I'd be shocked if anyone could forget a name like that and his stunning career including 2 albums. He's a one man wrecking crew tearing the charts like Britney Spears and tearing the internet like those photos of her nether regions. The man will live forever.

I personally have experienced some of the MedicineHat love first hand. I have no real proof but when I had a project in a NFB contest a fellow classmate doned the same honor. I honestly think that the exposure he got in his home town, the Hat, rocketed him straight to 2nd place as far as voting goes. I'm also sure that the contest was suddenly changed as the NFB realized they didn't have the funds to fly and Albertan out to T.O. to claim his prize. Thus the 2nd prize became a jury prize and suprise suprise a Ontarian won it.

Now the Hat has one more famous TV type person I am sure they will be just as proud of as Mr. Porter. This person goes by the name of Ashley Van Ham. She is this year recipient of Canada's Worst Driver. Her poor skills were accented by a volitile rage. Actually if I had to come up with a stereotypical Albertan she would be it. Too much money and too useless with it. I'm sure hardly any Albertans are like this however the majority of the ones I know have similar flares. Luke feel free to trash Saskatchewanians but be ware you may face a large opposition.

Anyways I'd like to congratulate all of MedicineHat on their newest celebrity. Have fun on the roads, I'm sure you will. The rest of yous, be careful when driving in the Hat.

It's The Little Things In Life

2008-12-02T13:51:00.000-08:00

As some of you may know I am a bit of a band-aid when it comes to sports injuries. So the season is upon us and along with the usual (though worse this year/age) aches and bruises I have recieved my first injury, like so many before my shoulder is not working properly. Now just as a little inspiration for all of you out there, so that you know it really is the little things in life that make it great. I can take the pain and I can take the lack of motion but it really is crap having to wipe your ass with your left hand (or right hand for you lefties). It doesn't work the same and the pain is to much to use the right hand so you have no choice and its the worst thing ever. It still gets clean it just takes longer and more TP. I can't wait to wipe my ass with my right hand again. Never thought I'd ever say that.

Honey Git The Shotgun Ut!

2008-11-26T08:51:00.000-08:00

So about a month ago I arrived home from taking the little'un to skool and to my supprise I seen something shocking! Something I did not expect to see but none the less it happened. I ponied up some man courage and blocked the incident out like the thought of commitment to a 16 year old hillbilly when he sees his cousin Rosanne for the first time. But then it happened again. I returned home this morning from droppin' off the little rug rat and a quick stop at the lady friends work place (I know what yur thinkin but wipe that smile off yur face it was all business) and low and behold they were back. I reckon I may just keep a gun in my motorcade to help rid me of these varmints and git a good meal.If you look closely(maybe click on the pic to enlarge it[how poetic was that]) you'll see a group of prairie chickens. Yep, right smack dab in the middle of the city. I don't know where they come from but they seem to like our lawn. Then when I scare them away their preferred escape route is across the street on the neighbours lawn which is where the picture is taken. Now I've seen it all.

Banned From YouTube!!!

2008-11-21T08:57:00.000-08:00

I rarely do it and maybe I don't do it enough but I am going to start talking about a film. I have been slowly watching a piece called 9/11 by Jules and Gedeon Naudet. In the past I have stayed away from projects based on the events of 9/11 and the ones I have seen I haven't enjoyed very much. I have a problem with things that seem like blatant propaganda. This is why I have stayed away from most terrorist videos. They all come off the same to me with their slogans "This is bad join our cause, Unite!" I always feel that the acts that provoke these ideas are never pointed at specific people yet we all act like it was a rapist coming after us personally. I guess my basic issue can be found in any text regarding identity crisis and its flaws.

Regardless every once in a while a film from out of my usual gamut of selection will surprise me. I has originally took the movie out from they library because I knew a few things about it. 1. It was a 9/11 movie by accident. The focus of the show was on some firefighters particularly a rookie fighter working his way up. 2. The film has the only footage of the first plane hitting the WTC. I thought based on these two simple facts there might be something worth while in the show.

It starts off with a very patriotic stance and my initial thought was "here we go another downward spiral". However it quickly changed to the initial look of the project. It focused on the firefighters and on finding the rookie they would follow. From there we follow the rookie for a few months in his first department until September 11th. From here on in the film becomes an amazing first hand account of the events that happened that day. Through the complete realm of chance the one Naudet catches the first plane crashing. He follows the firefighters into the building while his brother is stuck back at the department with the rookie.

That is all I will say about what happens in the show but just know the cameras are at ground zero for the entire thing, from planes crashing to buildings falling. I haven't' finished watching it yet but what I have seen is the most intense documentary that has and likely will ever cover such a world changing event. All seen through the eyes of those that lived through it, the filmmakers and the firefighters. Any firefighter or aspiring fighter has to see this it has captured the real emotion of what it is like to be a firefighter in the most extreme circumstance. I wish there was no need for you guys to do some of the things you do but god knows I am thankful you are there.

On the lighter side I recently had my first YouTube video banned! I got an email saying that a copywrite holder has banned my video for the use of the song "Seether" by Veruca Salt. The song I actually used was "Volcano Girls". I emailed YouTube asking to talk to the copywirte holder so I can get permission and they have yet to email me back. However in a speedy response from the bands management they have told me that Geffen Records is group that would hold the rights. However, the system in tack to track songs down is automated. Geffen would have registered songs with YouTube and they have an automatic system to screen videos. Meaning even if I get permission from Geffen YouTube might continually shut down my video. It's kind of a strange twist but hopefully in the end my video will get reposted.

In response I have also posted two new videos. They are a demo I made up from the footage I shot for the Great Train Reverie. If you remember this is the train trip to the East Coast I got hired for. The is a short version and a long version.

Amish Paradise

2008-11-17T12:28:00.000-08:00

You know SNL sometimes has those commercials that make fun of ads and products you see on TV? I seriously did a double take to see if this was a joke despite watching a show called Wrecked on the Speed network. Its a little product the Amish like to call Heat Surge. I couldn't find the TV ad on the internet so this will have to do.

You Gay Cock!

2008-11-12T12:16:00.000-08:00

Is this just rude or an old English saying for a happy energetic fellow? Picture a sepia toned guy in a top hat and coat with a monacle, talking to a young lad who is to eager to shine his shoes for a nickel; "You there, young lad, why are you such a gay cock?" I couldn't stop laughing until I found out that it was not the line in the book I read. Still, this may be my new favorite saying.

Gettin' Hitched

2008-11-02T09:45:00.000-08:00

Every year goes by and usually, during summer, I find myself at a few weddings. I have, for the longest time now, believed that weddings are overrated. Then Wedding Crashers came out and they seemed like fun. However, I was mistaken.

While at a friend's wedding last night I pondered about why I do not like weddings as they are. It turns out that it's not so much that I dislike weddings, they do provide usually some entertainment, a chance to get together with people you haven't seen in a while or people you usually don't hang out with. The girls are looking good, you get to hear funny stories and jokes in speeches and it is usually a cheap drunk. Your possibilities for fun are endless and I see the attraction for going to weddings.

My problem lies in wedding traditions. The ceremonies are what they are but the traditions that take place during the dance perplex me. I do not understand the need for the bouquet toss. Is it really fun fighting for flowers? Why do brides spend so much on that bouquet only to give it away rather than have a nice keepsake? And that whole getting married next thing is stupid, it never actually happens. For that matter the garter toss... is it really necessary to watch your buddy go up a dress? Is this the right message we promote to the kids around? Do you really want to touch that thing after you know where it's been? It is somebody's wife and it seems wrong to me.

Other strange traditions are the specialty dances. Yea, I knew the bride when she used to rock and roll but I could still dance with her when ever I see her, I don't need the specific dance to tell me to. Also, am I really entertained by dancing with her after several other guys briefly do and I know more will after me? Is my brief party boy dance really going to make anyone's night? Once again, I sense the wrong message, she's not just some girl to be thrown around like you are at JD's. Then the groom gets stripped. What is up with that? How did that ever start? Are brides really OK with this? Because it seems to me having other girls tear off your husband's clothing would be a bad way to start a marriage. In both cases I guess its just in fun and at the end of the night no harm is done to the marriage as the bride and groom go home together. But it still is a messed up way to affirm ones love.

Lastly, the other tradition that never ceases to amaze me is found in one simple additional lyric; "Hey motherfucker, get laid get fucked!" How did this start? Who started it and why? Is it not wrong to tell a motherfucker to get fucked? It's like Sleepwalkers all over again, only worse. Why is it so vulgar and people still shout it despite all the kids around? And lastly, it just plain amazes me that at every wedding it happens, at every wedding people know it and at every wedding there is this weird anticipation for the line that creates a sense of excitement from the opening bass and drum of the song just because people get to shout it. Truely strange but the dance floor is packed anyways.

I guess my point can be reflected in a quote someone used last night; "Marriage changes nothing yet changes everything." These traditions still happen, despite the fact that they lack the meaning they once had, yet somehow a wedding, with enough booze can be made twice as much fun by these weird traditions.

The Calm Before The Storm

2008-10-23T07:47:00.000-07:00

I have been off the radar for a bit here only checking in and not contributing in any way shape or form. But then again that like doesn't change anything really and I am still prone to redundancy with lines like way shape or form. Things have been going good and as the title suggests I am in a state of calm. Don't worry the storm isn't coming on this blog but I am sure down the road I will be angry at something again. For once I'd like to talk about the calm.

I started thinking about why I was so relaxed and happy lately and a large amount of it is obviously due to the fact I am not working. I have even pondered if I like what I do but I don't think it is a question of that. I do enjoy work it is just I work to much at once. I used to think farmers were crazy to put in the time they do but now I have become similar. I work a ridiculous day during all of summer and then don't have much to to in the winter. I try to diversify to keep going but thats it. I honestly would much rather have jobs with less hours that drag on over more days for the same pay (or more pay would be nice).

That wasn't it though. There was more to it so I told myself that it is because you are working for yourself, you control your work and your play. Essentially I think it is more like what I'd like to be doing. Working at my own pace with very little pressure to have anything done. The only problem is it doesn't pay the bills.

Then one day it dawned on me another reason I am much more calm is because of my cell phone. I lowered my plan and barely have it on and when I do I don't answer it all the time depending on how I feel and who I think it is. I wait to use the home phone to make local calls and you know what it hasn't hurt me one bit. I really do enjoy not always be contactable. It adds to the calm by putting less pressure on yourself all the time, it creates less stress and really nothing is so important that it can't wait a few minutes so take the time and relax.

All in all my time in calm has become more and more like how things were when I was living at home working at the Esso. Not really caring and really only out there to make my life enjoyable. So for now I am going to enjoy the calm and I recommend you do the same. Take some time shut of your phones and blackberry's and loose contact with the world to do something you enjoy. Also if you would like to donate any money to my enjoyment that would be great as I said its not paying the bills but maybe you can help.

PS. When I get angered again I will likely start the Road Rage Blog. That is how calm I am I have like 5 stories but I just laugh at them rather than get mad.

I Call Them Skunks

2008-10-15T07:56:00.000-07:00

I'm gonna start on a tangent here first. As we wake up this morning we see the world around us changing. For example the Conservatives are running a minority government in Canada and this years election turn out was fantastic. All of this is sarcasm. However we did yet again break a new record in voter apathy at a %59.1 percent turnout and Harper did gain a few extra seats. In real news of things changing the wee man informed me a few weeks ago that our Shell station is under remodeling. They have been setting up for some major construction all week. I drove by it this morning and they were ripping down the canopy over the gas pumps. Tis a sad day.

Now for what I really planned writing about. I was driving around yesterday and noticed a few things. First off its October and there was bits of snow everywhere and the temp was only 3 degrees, this is all fine and well. Then it started to rain. I suppose that is fine also, I mean really its Saskatchewan weather you can have anything happen at anytime. The next thing I noticed was this guy riding his bike down Dewdney. My first thought was man, I'm all for helping the environment out but lets not be stupid about it. I continued on my way and eventually ending up at Slonski's. I started to tell my story and as I pondered it on the way home I decided I want to coin the term Bike Skunks or Skunks for short. This is what I will call these out of season peddlers.

I am sure its not new and I am sure you have all seen people with a mud strip straight down their back. This is because they choose to bike in bad weather. They have the stripe and are dirty and smelly from it. Therefore Skunk is an appropriate term. I will never figure out why they choose to ruin a perfectly good jacket let alone put themselves through that weather. I guess the bus only makes so many stops.

Dear Politics

2008-10-04T21:58:00.000-07:00

So as we enter this federal election I beg the question, why do voters care? The answer is: they don’t. I cannot blame them. Canadian politics is a complete joke. All they care about is one stance and one answer solutions to problems despite the fact that our government is ruled and opposed, meaning the process is collective. In other words, two groups, a positive and a negative, have to battle for our way of life. This battle is done behind closed doors with people we elect to represent us. They use our money to argue for days about slight changes and repeat the process every 4 years or so. The end outcome can only be an equalization where we, the voter, do not get what we want because we have to settle for something that is not a negative or a positive. In the end everyone gets screwed. You get screwed out of taxes and you get screwed out of what is offered to you. So I ask again, why should voters care?

Now taking that into consideration and to add insult to injury, what is the goal of a politician? To win the election; yes, that’s right win. Evidently, the political system is nothing more than a game. If this weren’t true we’d have politicians that work together for a region rather than fight. We would have all political parties represented in each and every constituency. We would have every opinion viewed and respected. What we would not have is Harpereconomics and Crazy Dion and so forth. We would not have stupid ads that have nothing to do with the political group who is paying for it. Our political system has become a fear mongering smear campaign only to make voters feel that some party is unsafe. So when the only thing parties can agree on is that every other party is unsafe, who should we vote for? Who is to blame for voter apathy?

To stress that politicians do not care about you, when is the last time you talked to one? Talk to old timers, I guarantee you they will tell you about the time they met and spoke with Tommy Douglas or another incident very similar. Now you get a handshake and a pamphlet on why another party is crap. In the very essence, you get low grade employees that cannot even accept a view that offers another opinion. After all, their job relies on it.

Barely 2/3 of the eligible population, are voting. That means almost 9 million people are not voting, 9 million opinions are missed and what are the politicians doing about it? Not caring, because that is what keeps them in office, apathetic voters. If people cared we’d have very different outcomes, in fact 9 million of them. From the ground up, politics are fucked. Yet it is our fault for not being interested, not getting involved, not being happy and not voting. Yes, that’s right. They don’t care about you because you are wrong and they are right yet some how you give them a job. It is the delusion of democracy and we are the pawns that are essential but the first piece to be sacrificed.

B.C. Lions Are The Biggest Pussies In The CFL

2008-09-20T21:25:00.001-07:00

Here Kitty Kitty Kitty! Shame to the refs, the CFL and TSN. You don't want Rider fans to tarnish our image??!! Maybe you shouldn't act like one incident, that was based on fact and emotion, is a new celebrity sex tape and start an uproar only media can fake. Like you have never screwed up your job you arrogant pricks. Lets review, if the refs made the right call even after review and called the face mask we'd give you an apology but you didn't. TSN commentators I have been happy with the switch from CBC until you over glorify an action that happened and when you point out why you disregard that reason and fall back on to slander. Then you wonder why no one thinks you like/respect the Riders. Go back to your condos in Toronto and play more Makebe-leaf highlights. Wray Morrison you are a traitor, what happened happened. Shut your mouth because you're not making anything better! CFL, I know you'll have an answer like you made the right call and the fans of the Roughies blah blah blah... don't be so condescending, without us you are nothing, admit you're wrong. Wally, are you afraid the rain of beer would get your cholesterol up? You and your team are giant pussies. I guess that's why you wear that tabby on your lids. If you can't take a little abuse get off the field, you can't call yourself football players. Get off our turf and never come back, this game is ours, this place is ours, so don't come in our house, wipe your ass on the floor and expect to be treated kindly. You are a disgrace to football everywhere!!!!

Vote Now!

2008-09-16T11:32:00.000-07:00

In honor of the upcoming federal election and roommate who works in politics and wears two different shoes to work, I have decided to have my own election. Okay its more of a vote on something I now dub Bill-blue42.

What Blue42 proposes is that I start a new blog where others can post their angst at the world of stupid drivers and traffic anger. This bill started with a previous blog of anger. 2 days after the blog I had another incident that I knew was going to happen. I was driving down Broad St. and ended up behind a tractor. The other lane had a flow of traffic. When I seen the last car going I signaled and started to watch the guy behind me . As I drifted to the other lane I notice that he drifted with no signal and hit the gas. I said no and drifted more to cut him off and straddled the line then made some swerves like where did you come from, maybe next time follow my signal. I let him go by and received my verbal beating. What he said I don't know b/c my window was up but it did hurt, good work guy.

The new blog would be "A Road Raggers Chronicle" and would allow users to vent their frustration in a way more constructive and less destructive then those rages on the road. I would encourage people to write to me so that I can post blogs against specific drivers. For example the aforementioned non signal guy would have his make and model of truck released with license plate number so others can make fun of him directly as well. The new blog would also be a forum for an project I have wanted to do for a long time and that is to show the injustice done by parking enforcers. Remember injustice is different than getting a ticket b/c you park in a handicap zone.

My thoughts are that if we bond together we can make one voice loud enough that people in this city might actually hear and might smarten up. Also we can violently blast others while keeping our identities anonymous. I know we all screw up on the road so lets try to make it as pleasant as possible, if it takes a lot of f-words then that's what it takes.

The poll is posted in the side bar. Vote yes or no for a new blog.

Wiener Is Another Way Of Saying Hot Dog

2008-09-10T11:12:00.000-07:00

Which has absolutely nothing to do with this post however it is a line in The Middle Show that you all should watch.

What I want to talk to you all about is music. Seems how it's a sensitive subject for a lot of people I thought I'd tap that resource again. Also in recent times some things have been brought to my attention that I think are noteworthy in a talk about music.

*UPDATE*
I find it ironic that Josh send me this but apparently someones been reading my blog.

A workmate of mine turned me on to a little site called LastFM. This site allows users to search and listen to music based on the concept of "sounds like". Basically you can type in a band name and it will play you a song from that band but continue a play list with bands that "sound like" the band you typed in. It gives you full control to work the player like any media player; back, skip, pause, etc. and you can make a profile (although Card/Wallet). It will profile your musical taste and keep bringing more of what you want. You can block songs you dislike making them never appear for you again and the site can launch in Itunes. It's handy and I like the fact that the bands are established bands. Even if its just locally established band it still limits the amount of junk you can listen to.

The other thing I wanted to present to you is a story I found in the cbc archives. A study done in Europe suggests that people that listen to certain types of music have certain types of personalities. So either the music you listen to affects your personality or your personality is reflected in the music you listen to. There is also a video clip for it in the cbc webpage side bar. I also find it funny that indie rock listeners are the lowest form of personality as I think it is the lowest form of music...next to country but I respect their ethics. Also helps create stereotypes but what else is University good for.

Aggressively Affable: You'll Like It!!!

2008-09-08T13:24:00.000-07:00

News flash, I'm opinionated. Rolling on the thunder of saying music is crap I offer something else I think is good. I have been watching this internet show during my lunch breaks for some time now. It takes place in NYC and is a little thing I like to call The Middle Show... alright they like to call it that but I like to call it that too and they make me laugh. Work just got that much more wasted time.

Good Vibrations

2008-09-04T14:55:00.000-07:00

So I figured in the face of such a Vulgar blog I would make today a two-blog-day. I know I said tomorrow but its my blog and I am really not angry...now. I am going to do the one thing that I detest on DM's blog and that is Blog about music. Specifically music I think is great and no one else cares about. It's not my fault though, a lot of acts I like way back when are way back now and killing it. I wish bands now a days would get time to develop instead of creating 1 song album after another. Its Junk! If you need proof go to a local "Music Store" and you'll soon notice that over half of their selection is DVD's and another portion is crappy band things none the less the music has become forgotten. This also holds true for MTV and Much who play crappy reality TV shows all day long. Why Because bands now are terrible. Its really sad when these bands that make comebacks are the biggest thing happening. So with out further adue I presnt to you some music.

Remember Rage Against The Machine, well lead signer Zack has a new deal called One Day As A Lion. I think it rules and no you can't pick up any sounds in stores in Regina. Side Note RATM is also recording a new album.

Another band I enjoyed a lot is the Toadies. Their newly released album comes in the wake of a break lead singer Lewis took from his other great band the Burden Brothers.

Seven Mary Three also released an Album this year which sounds low key but really good.

I am also quite happy with my boy Lyrics Born. And the new albums from Dragonforce and Avenged Sevenfold have peaked my interest and ironically these three are the only albums on my list you'll find in Regina stores excluding anything past the last album LB had.

Before I forget I got one more for you whether it is good or bad I leave that to you either way its a little odd and strange to see Chris Cornell doing this.

Enjoy and Good Listening.

Road Rage

2008-09-04T08:36:00.000-07:00

If you are under the age of 16 you are prohibited from reading this. There are two very good reasons for this. 1. If you are under 16 you cannot drive and this information is not meaningful to you and I don’t care if your learning b/c your parents should teach you this. 2. It will be very, very vulgar. You have been warned.

You had your turn BITCH so now its mine! I am so fucking sick of people flipping out in vehicles. It is fucking retarded. There is no need for it and it doesn’t make any situation better. People that do look like complete fucking tools and you have established ranks as an asshole. Congratulations!

Women shouldn’t be allowed to drive. I am not saying this to be sexist but rather in my experience I have seen more women fly off the handle than men. Maybe my first line should be No Bitches can drive male or female. There should be a law stating that if you are going to be a bitch while driving you’ll loose your license. There should be an incentive for drivers to report those who have given the finger or flipped out. I fucking hate you people.

Here are some stories.

Story 1: Years ago I got in a car accident driving maybe 40kph. It wasn’t major and ever one was OK. When I pulled over to talk to the girl of the other car I had to listen for a bout 10 min. of this “Some Fucking guy was fucking driving to fucking fast and fuck fuck fuck!” she was talking to her mom. I got the police there made the report and as things turn out she lied on her statement to the police, ended up getting caught running a stop sign and lost her license. Needless to say your rage helped you none. You would have been better off had I lost it on you for being a fucking bitch. Did you learn? No b/c you’re a bitch.

Story 2: Some years later I was in Regna making a left hand turn. At the same time this guy needed to make a right hand turn. The light is green for both people so what do you do? You turn into your fucking lane you dip shit. You don’t try to sweep the lane b/c you know I am there and want to prove a point then proceed to chase me down so you can pull up beside me at the next red light so you can yell. All you did was prove two things. 1. You were wrong and 2. You are complete fucking loser with not enough brain power to spit out a proper sentence in order to prove your point. I am happy you have some muscles b/c a fucking dipshit like you is gonna need them.

Story 3: This is a mix of recent stories. The first of which happened on the weekend. My brother, Amber and I were on our way to pick up Trin. I pulled out to turn and a street and missed a car coming from the one side. I hammered on the brakes and was a little bit into the driving lane. There was no traffic behind her or oncoming and she didn’t even have to cross lanes to go around me. This was enough to get the finger from a scrawny little bitch driving a car that was on the verge of falling apart. I am pretty sure sticking that finger up your asshole bitch would have been more worthwhile b/c all you taught me is that you need a fucking bitch release. The second part comes from this morning. I am driving down Fleet St. talking to my mom I signal, check the mirrors, nothing, shoulder check and drift my lane. It is at this point I see a green Jeep speeding past and then when our noses are lined up hitting the brakes. I get off the gas sweep further back into my lane and she drives by yelling loud enough for me to hear it through my closed window driving through the rain “blah blah Maybe If You Got Off Your Phone!” You might as well have said “blah blah I’m a fucking bitch!” Yea I know I wasn’t driving in perfect form but maybe had you not hit your gas when you seen me signaling or how about sticking with that decision instead of hitting your bakes and making it worse. Nope you have to prove you bitchdom and make me swear in front of my mom. Although I have to admit it was impressive how fast you rolled down your window to yell. I hope your seat is stained with dirty bitch water that came in off the street to match the dirty bitch seating in it.

My point being none of these situations is worth any of the anger that happened and I am fucking sick of people getting rowdy for nothing. Disasters were avoided and even the minor ones that happen aren’t worth it. It’s a fucking car. If that is not your problem you rage-ers not only assholes you are insecure,shitty drivers, you rage at yourselves and take it out on others. You are insignificant little worms and getting the smallest amount of attention is the only thing that gets you off. I only wish I had a better response then Fuck You! But I don’t, I drive on and bitch on blog rather than be an asshole right in your face. If you ask me that’s a lot fucking ruder and your only making driving a lot more dangerous for everyone else on the road. So next time you rage pull the fuck over and suck a dick like the bastard whores you are. FUCK YOU!

The rest of you sorry for that, I will blog my original blog I had planned for today tomorrow.

Labour Day Vlassic

2008-09-02T09:44:00.001-07:00

Yes that's right this blog is about the Labour Day festivities and pickles. So the weekend was pretty eventful and pretty good. Saturday was the Cocker Golf Tourney to which we never won but a good time was had, excluding Josh who got bit on the inside of the lip by a wasp that was hiding in his beer, that was not a good time for Josh but the ensuing swelling made for an enjoyable time for the rest of us.

That evening Amber had some people over for a BBQ to crisin the new home and that was good to. I have to admit I enjoyed cooking for like 5 hours straight (I made cookies then BBQ) and the weather was perfect for me. Also it was entertaining to watch a few people turn into puddles as well as watch people who first learned what a shocker is and then continue to overabuse the term all night. It made me chuckle.

The next day we boarded a doubledecker bus and went to the Rider game. The ensuing ridiculousness that I need not mention provided entertainment for a rather dull game. This is where the pickle comes in. I cannot fathom why the Riders will not sell endzone tickets anymore (the big TV is a poor excuse). The endzone is what made the game. Not that the game is terrible just cause you have a proper seat it is just more entertaining to see the field stormed with fans at the end of the game. The mix of fans and players was something fairly unique to the Roughies Labour Day and now its gone. I truely believe they should bring this back as that moment captures what it is to be a Rider/Bomber fan at the Labour Day Classic. The oportunity to shake a game winners hand at the end of the game let alone be on the field is a fantastic chance and spectacle. Also the rise of streakers would be an added bonus and Gunther would definatly had gone to jail but at least I would have to drag him back to the bus. Thanks guys!

If I Had The Chance To Re-Live The Glory Days

2008-08-28T08:08:00.000-07:00

That's a pretty optimistic title considering I have very mixed feelings about what I am going to rant on. Hopefully it will come together at the end, likely it won't.

Everyone has that one point in their life that they wish they could go back to. Mine would when I was like five and had a huge crush on Lou Ellen Bartel; a local lifeguard who turned out to be my swim coach later that summer. But I did not get to fulfill my Sandlot-esq summer dream. Squints soon became my hero.

That lack there of is why I now refer to my glory days as my time in University. I never really got to kiss girls there either but there was a lot more to look at. Now that I am done with the place I find my Lady-friend returning. Could this be that chance to re-live my time there? Why would I want to do that anyways?

Its true I am fairly undecided about the whole University thing but what I can't argue is that I met some good people and had a lot of fun (I could however argue the same for SIAST though never attending I had some fun with people from there as well). Unregardless I wasn't excited for the return of University in my life until this morning. As I was Driving to work when two girls from the URSU were on the radio talking about the welcome back week events. There is beer, togas, music and games. Then there was my nostalgic memories of the Owl, events on the greens and beer. It all came to culminate when the girls offered $12 tickets for free drinks at the Owl, a ride to Mosaic Stadium, tickets to a Rams game, a ride to a Caberet and ticket to get in to the Caberet. I don't care where you are that is a good deal. I was excited for my triumphant return to University. I was prepared to live vicariously thorugh my girlfirend and followe her to events for University people.

As far as I am concerned the Glory Days are back only better. I don't have to do school work or partake in stupid classes. I can get drunk and stupid at cheap booze events and at the end of the night I might even get laid. The possibilities are endless at it feels kinda good. Yet now in this moment contemplation I some how feel sorry for Amber. She gets to re-live the days in the worst way, doing the work dragging her drunk idiotic boyfriend to events he shouldn't be at. Maybe I'll have to tame my time....or buy her some flowers.

In other news my shirt is uncomfortable.

My Hero

La Casa Stil Fantastic

2008-08-26T13:24:00.000-07:00

So I am seeing a trend in blog form that I like food. Specifically Mexican food. Now as I sit here enjoying some eats from La Casa I remember and incident from this weekend.

Upon our arrival in Saskatoon Amber and I met up with her Grandma and Auntie for some grub. On the way to Original Joes I noticed a restaurant that Amber and I wanted to eat at before but had no luck. As we pull up to OJ's we can see that the line up is large and Amber's Aunt said it was "a long wait. Do you guys want to try something else?"

Amber pipes up and says "how about that Avocados?" "Delicious" her Auntie replies or something of that nature. So we are off to the races. We get in and are seated quickly. I order something called the Drunken Chicken Burrito. Verdict; delicious. We also had a little tequila that was expensive but quite a bit better than ol'Jose. I had some while eating and it went down like a fine wine.

With all this the restaurant still lacked something. Its modern look didn't speak mexican though it was nice. That wasn't it. The real problem was the lack of originality in the food. It was clearly a cut above the EE, Del's and more recently Mondo but what it had in freshness and presentation it lacked in original flavour. It tasted to much like the regular Canadianized Mexican food. The tortilla was the same that you get at any restaurant and had a very bland taste.

As I eat my taco from La Casa I can taste the corn in the tortilla. The unique blend of rice cream and cinnamon made an unexpected delicious desert. The salsa made with tomatoes that you can see they cut as well as fresh herbs clearly puts it above your main stay Mexican place. The only place I have ate that is comparable is Las Palapas in Saskatoon but that was a while ago and I need another stop to rejuvenate that love. I also hear rumors of a place called The Hole In The Wall in Dundurn that is supposed to be hands down the Best Mexican food in Saskatchewan and possibly western Canada according to online reviews. Also the restaurant has been in one of the highest selling books about food known as "Where to Eat In Canada" a total of 10 times.

So to recap:

1. La Casa Maya/Las Palapas - Only cause I can't knock it down right now
3. Avocado's -for price and food quality
4. Taco Del Mar/EE Burritos -for over all value with flavour
5. Mondo Burrito- Flavour slightly better but value missing
6. Taco Time/Bell etc..-to greasy and mexicany but Crusto's rule.

Unrated. Hole In The Wall- need to eat at yet.

Why Is Buying Condoms Sooo Awkward

2008-08-25T13:29:00.000-07:00

I was reminded this weekend of little known show called The Tom Green Show. Remember when he was big? Anyways one of my all time favorite skits was the one he did on condoms.

This got me thinking of the most embarrassing situations one could possibly perform the act of purchasing and funny ways to deal with it. I think tom handled it quite well for the guys but what if a girl was to purchase them from a guy cashier? Simple her response should be "You Wish!" I'd laugh. This could also work for a guy buying large condoms from a girl/gay guy.

Another good response for a guy would be "It doesn't leave much to imagination" which is funny on a few levels. Then for the bold and single "What are you doing tonight?". I can imagine situations are awkward with old people working tills or someones parent/sibling/relative at the till as well.

I also found a few more fun things with condoms here, here and here.

Feel free to post stories, thoughts and comments anonymously you shy, dirty deviant little horn dogs.

Albert Street Over Pass Vs. Truck

2008-08-21T12:46:00.000-07:00

Last night at 9pm or so Amber and I were out for a drive doing some things for Amber's work. Which now that I think of it Amber your boss owes me $20 for working, $10 for gas and a Transportation Coordinator screen credit.

Work means pictures and pictures mean we have a camera. So when we came across this last night we had to shoot it. A semi carrying a large metal box tried to make it through the North Albert street overpass on Ring Road. It failed to do so. It wasn't stuck but did do some damage to the overpass. Have a look for yourself they are big pictures so you can click on them and zoom it to get a better look.

At The Top Of The World

2008-08-20T09:26:00.000-07:00

As I often do, I was watching internet videos at work and as I often do, it was some videos offered through msn when I sign out of hotmail. What was unusual was that the video I watched wasn't part of their stupid videos option. For the first time I seen a video option to watch stuff from Daily Planet. A show I am fond of but hardly ever watch. As I seen the link I was excited and thought that it was great as the show works in small doses for me and this is the perfect platform as it was shorts and I was in command. You know what it was great but there was one clip that got me thinking.

The clip is called top of the world and has the phrase mentioned a few times while it follows a father/daughter combo to the very place where ol' St. Nic is from the North Pole. No I wasn't thinking about Christmas but I was thinking why is the North Pole the "top of the world"?

I have heard it used in that way before and have even gave directions in a genius moment telling some one to turn "up" meaning north. So why do we perceive the world as a linear height running from south to north when we should make it a vertical height as we perceive the world around us? Think about it the top shelf is higher vertically, its not to the north so the top of the world would be Everest. This is not to say that the mountain is never referenced in this way I am just saying its fundamentally wrong to refer to the north as top. Language is a funny thing.

Corner Gas Golf Greats; Me

2008-08-18T08:57:00.000-07:00

No not really. However this weekend did host the 2nd annual and last Corner Gas Golf Tournament. Unlike last year I was fortunate enough to make it to Deer Valley to loose some balls in the bush/tall grass. The event had roughly 2 weeks of planning and as it turns out was a little disorganized. Does it matter? Likely not and it wasn't anything that could have really been planned for.

Either way after 6 hours of golf in plus 30 weather our team composing of Amber, myself and two fellows named Greg and Jerry who I affectionately became to know collectively as Garry, were a cool plus 6 on the course and had a collective weight from sweat loss of 35lbs. A far cry from top seat that was likely a -12 or so and bottom seat of likely +22. I would give you real answers but I don't know them as they handed out prizes before we got done in effort to speed up our all ready 1hr late bus trip.

I golfed fairly descent and was happy with my performance having a few monster drives that were in the 250 +/- range. The short stick suffered but Slonski helped out with the finesse including a short hole were we took her every shot to hit par. I guess all those trips to the mini golf has paid off. In the end we both got some raffle prizes which will provide shirts to paint our house in, some golf balls and tees. The day turned out pretty good despite eating next to nothing and drinking 6 beer. However we never went to the after party as the exhaustion took over, besides there was a little girl waiting at home who incidentally had to much energy.

It was a pretty good weekend overall but how could it not be when you golf for most of it.