62.5%

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My free DVDs from the special Blu-Ray savings offer (free DVDs when you bought a Blu-Ray player back around Christmas) finally arrived…and they got one wrong. I know, I know, they’re free, but…six months later and they don’t even deliver the one I really wanted? Not great.

It was the kind of offer where you had to pick one film from each of five groupings, and some of those groupings contained naught but rubbish. Here’s what arrived, in order of me giving a shit:

  • Full Metal Jacket
  • American Psycho
  • S.W.A.T.
  • Pirates Of The Caribbean
  • Hart’s War

Full Metal Jacket: yay. No question, I wanted that one. American Psycho…sure. Whatever. S.W.A.T. I’m only keeping because Nellie wanted the eye candy. Pirates of the Caribbean…bleh. Hart’s War? Hell no. I ordered The Prestige, but I guess they ran out. I’ll probably sell or trade those last two. Anybody want?

As it happened, these arrived on the same day as my most recent order from Indigo: No Country For Old Men and Juno (both on Blu-Ray), and Once (which, unfortunately, is only in lo-fi). Even if I don’t keep Pirates and Hart, my Blu-Ray stock just went up by more than half.

[tags]blu-ray, free blu-ray movies, full metal jacket, american psycho, s.w.a.t., pirates of the caribbean, hart’s war, the prestige, no country for old men, juno, once[/tags]

Eternal Maiden Actualization

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From the BBC: 50 office-speak phrases you love to hate

“My favourite which I hear from the managers at the bank I work for is let’s touch base about that offline. I think it means have a private chat but I am still not sure.”

I can’t believe they missed “Open the Kimono.”

.:.

Speaking of opening the kimono*: from MSNBC: Japan makes robot girlfriend for lonely men

She is big-busted, petite, very friendly, and she runs on batteries. A Japanese firm has produced a 15-inch tall robotic girlfriend that kisses on command, to go on sale in September for around $175, with a target market of lonely adult men.

Clearly, this is going to end in electrocution.

* I did not plan that segue, I swear to you.

[tags]office-speak, robot girlfriend[/tags]

I have the coolest 5-year-old niece ever

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Today is one of my niece’s fifth birthday. My brother sent over some pictures of her party, including one where she’s holding a spoon like a lightsaber. He also included a video of her, in the back of their minivan, clutching a stuffed sheep (I think?), singing along with the Foo Fighters. Not well, mind you, but she’s givin’ er.

This gives me faint hope for the musical taste of the next generation of Dickinsons, which I had all but written off when he sent me video of my nephew dancing along to “Bootylicious.” The time before that it was Great Big Sea.

I guess all my prayers for their souls are finally starting to pay off. Hear me now, kids: “Dylan…Dylan…Dylan…”

[tags]foo fighters, cool niece[/tags]

Frank, AB

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I recently discovered the Rural Alberta Advantage, and I think I like them. Partly because they (or one of them, at least) looks like this, but mainly because they sound like this. And this. And this. And this. And this.

Thanks to Chromewaves for pointing the way.

Oh, and I have come to love “Waiting Game” by Lightspeed Champion.

[tags]rural alberta advantage, lightspeed champion, chromewaves[/tags]

A good hobble wasted

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All the drama of the US Open was almost enough to make me want to watch golf.

Calling it “probably the greatest tournament I’ve ever had,” Tiger Woods outlasted a determined Rocco Mediate on Monday, finally defeating him on the first hole of sudden death to win the 108th United States Open.

Woods again came back from the brink of defeat, with a birdie on the final hole in the 18-hole playoff to pull even with Mediate at an even-par 71 and then a par on the first hole of sudden death to win.

Almost.

Oh, and notice that I have not checked the ‘sports’ category when submitting this post.

[tags]golf, us open[/tags]

Do you WANT me to move to Montreal? Because I will.

Dan Dickinson

Reading the phrase “Rob Ford’s mayoral candidacy” just caused me to do that weird thing you see in movies, where someone starts out laughing and ends up crying, all in one breath. You know? You know that thing? ‘Cause I just did that.

The [road tolls] issue undoubtedly gives a big boost to Ford’s mayoral prospects, as it rolls his two pet peeves into a single, politically explosive package: taxes and the persecution of drivers. The unthinkable campaign—Rob Ford for Mayor!—has taken a giant leap toward reality.

From Toronto Life’s City State blog

[tags]rob ford, toronto, toronto life, city state, philip preville[/tags]

Best! 16 days! Ever!

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I didn’t just finish my assignment tonight, I proof-read it & submitted it, and then I finished the work I was supposed to do tomorrow night. That means I can spend the next five days relaxing and dealing with any office complications. And packing, I guess.

Then…10 days in BC and a couple of days to recover after we get back. No more schoolishness until July 3rd. Dammit, I’m gonna enjoy this.

Speaking of BC, here’s the plan:

Our travel plan

[tags]mba, british columbia[/tags]

Enough already with the Seattle Thunderbirds!

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In advance of Saturday’s NHL draft, Mike Boone has an article on Habs InsideOut about the 25 years of horrible drafting (in the first round, at least) of the Montreal Canadiens.

Without doing a scientific comparison, I suggest that from 1975 through 2000, no team in North American professional sports squandered more first-round draft choices than your Montreal Canadiens.

I remember seeing a lot of these picks fizzle into nothing year after year, but to see a list of so much squandered opportunity…well, it’s a wonder the Canadiens won cups in ’86 and ’93. Thanks goodness for the ’84 draft.

[tags]montreal canadiens, nhl draft[/tags]

"Wow, that's…really warm."

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I spent yesterday eating great food and enjoying even better company. First, squeezed into a solid 10-4 block of meetings, was lunch with William Azaroff. I had only spoken to William through his blog, Facebook, Twitter and over the phone once or twice, so it was nice to finally meet him in person. We had lunch on the garden patio at Fieramosca, and I could’ve happily stayed to chat and bask in the wonderful weather (and food!) for much longer than the two hours we spent there. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to catch up again in a couple of weeks when I’m in Vancouver; I guess it depends on how married I am to my hotel bed after six days of hiking.

After work T-Bone had some people over for a barbeque. I was concerned about the weather — thunderstorms were forecast for the evening — but sunshine carried the day and the rain held off until after everyone had finished their rather sumptuous feast…and then it really came down. I lost count of how many shrimp I ate. Other highlights of the evening: free shots of Carlsberg at the pre-bbq LCBO run; PC being, um, doused by his 2-year-old son; Nellie and I dominating at SceneIt?. We were pretty tired though, so even though we got home shortly after midnight it wasn’t long before we both crashed.

Today’s been…well, honestly, today’s been an exercise in avoiding the inevitable: a paper that’s due Monday. Here’s hoping I can kick my own ass into gear.

[tags]william azaroff, fieramosca, carlsberg, sceneit[/tags]

Still waiting for Quiet Riot revisted

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I’ve tried before to articulate why I don’t tend to like artists who rehash old musical styles. Not that I don’t like a lot of old musical styles, but I’m rarely even impressed by someone who revisits an old style that I loved, let alone one I disliked. Like I said, though, I could never explain clearly when someone would ask me why I didn’t just love The Darkness or The Kaiser Chiefs or whoever.

So today, when I read Carrie Brownstein’s Monitor Mix blog, I found myself nodding along with her explanation for why she feels the same way.

I like new. I like influence drawn from various or, sometimes, obvious genres. I am not averse to updating or reconfiguring the old. But if an artist can’t find a way of making the music feel like it’s been reborn then what is the point? There are plenty of bands that make you feel like you are hearing a genre, a form of music, or a playing style for the first time. In my opinion, The White Stripes are a good example of a band who did more than merely copy the blues, whereas The Bravery exemplify the most benign and pointless regurgitation of new wave and post-punk.

I feel I should point out that I enjoy cover songs. A lot. I quite enjoy established artists taking a crack at an old song, especially if they mess with it a bit. However, artists like the new-wave of female British soul singers that Carrie mentions just seem like poor sequels, the same way that Wolfmother sounds like a local house band trying to be Zeppelin.

Clearly lots of people like Amy Winehouse and The Bravery, etc. I’d have to assume they’re the kind of people who like their music fun instead of interesting, which is fine…different people want different things from music. I’m just glad I found a way to articulate why I don’t want to listen to the retro-act-du-jour. I suppose it was a little inelegant to respond to “Why don’t you like Scissor Sisters?” with “Because I fucking hated disco the first time around, and I wasn’t even there.”

[tags]carrie brownstein, monitor mix[/tags]