More Serotonin Please

I Have A Shirt That Says This!

2007-06-01T20:20:00.001-04:00

You Learn Something New And Depressing Every Day

Hey, did you know that more than 14 million African children have been orphaned because of AIDS? Fourteen million.

Finally! A Useful Government Agency.

2007-05-14T13:35:00.001-04:00

Dept. Of Evil: 'All Of You Must Die'

WASHINGTON, DC-The department warned that all necks would feel the steely bite of its soul-thirsty axe as soon as funding is approved.

Skinny Puppy Breaks The Rules

2007-05-03T22:27:00.000-04:00

A Short Story

2007-04-30T20:40:00.000-04:00

THE DAY THE SILENCE WAS BROKEN

by Me.

The silence was broken one day. The reasonable temperament of the grand old lady had drastically changed from that of mild indifference to raging fury. The gentle silence that she was once known for had been replaced by belching, burning, scorching fury of the elements.

Mother Earth had sat quietly for most of her life. Occasionally, her inhabitants felt her presence, however, these changes in mood were, typically, predictable but nonetheless powerful and destructive. Within the span of a few human years, or a maybe just a few minutes to Mother Earth, her mood changed from reasonably tolerant to resentfully heated. The fury she had tried to contain had finally been unleashed through Earth shaking bowel movements, gusts of indigestion and rainstorms of feverish sweat.

These changes did not go unnoticed by her human inhabitants. The alpha-males of society formed committees, workgroups, organizations, lobby groups, activist organizations, political parties, and so on and so on to discuss Mother Earth’s change in mood. All opinions were shared and all ideas discussed. But, these meetings failed to garner Mother Earth’s approval. She showed her contempt by drowning cities of her inhabitants in pools of loath.

One nation said, “We have to stop wasting what Mother Earth has given us.”
Another nation said, “We have to balance need with waste.”
The activists said, “We have to stop raping Mother Earth. She hates us for abusing, stealing and infecting her.”
A third nation said, “She gave us everything to make our lives better. To not use what she has given us, will upset her more.”
A fourth nation said, “Every story has an end in the future. Our future is now.”
Quietly in the corner a voice made a tearful plea. “We are the world’s poor. Please just save us from her wrath.”

All of these meetings were not for nothing.
Action plans. Accords. Protocols.
They were all developed to appease Mother Earth. New machines were created. The humans changed every light bulb in their houses and kept building. The humans applauded their evolution and progress, believing that this would please Mother Earth and gain her favour.

For a few human years, Mother Earth went back to being silent. The stillness could be felt, the silence could be heard and her hate no longer noticed. This, however, did not give the humans a sense of comfort. They could hear the Moon and Sun whispering. What exactly they said they were unsure, but they knew for certain it was about Mother Earth. Soon, the Sun and Moon grew quiet. It wasn’t long before the Sun appeared to visit less frequently. Seasons changed. Days grew longer. The Moon would continue to visit everyday even while the sun was still present. Mother Earth was waking. She was spinning faster and then slower on her axis. She had become suicidal and no longer kept a constant distance from, the much more powerful, sun. Yet, to the humans she did not speak. The humans grew scared. If Mother Earth was not well, they would soon become ill themselves.

Finally, Mother Earth broke her silence and began to terrorize her human inhabitants. She would erupt volcanoes with a rage never before seen by her guests. The land would rumble under her anger as she shook the ground. Glaciers would break apart and melt as her temperature rose.

The humans grew angry with Mother Earth and took to the streets and screamed for a reason, an answer. “Why are you doing this to us Mother Earth? We have tried to make you happy. What is there left for us to do?”
These questions were met with an answer. Mother Earth shook violently and all of the humans went silent. Slowly, a mild and calming voice was heard resonating from Mother Earth’s core. “Humans. My friends.” she began.
Nowhere on her surface could her voice not be heard.
She continued, “I am not angry with you my friends.”
The humans were quick to counter, “Then why do you kill, torment and ruin our lives!”
“Simple beings,” she continued with her soothing motherly voice. “Simple beings. I am not doing these things on purpose. I cannot control what is happening. Much like your bodies, I have a means for curing my illness. My body is just doing what is necessary to heal me.”
To this the humans breathed a sigh of relief, now knowing that she was not trying to kill them and that there was hope to stop all of this hell on Earth.
The scientists around the world spoke together in unison, “We are scientists and we have made great progress in the ways of chemistry, physics and biology. We are sure we can assist in curing your disease. What is it that plagues you?”
Mother Earth spoke once more for a final time, “You. You are my plague. Humans are a parasite in my blood. I have an illness called humans and my body is killing you off. I have developed a fever that will only get more intense until you are all dead. I’m sorry, but it is either you or I.”

Correction!

2007-04-16T20:22:00.000-04:00

I was informed by my friend Ian that the Prodigy album I had mentioned last week is not The Prodigy, but the rapper Prodigy! I guess I'm not the only person fouled as Amazon, and various other reliable music sites made the same mistake. So there is some hope that The Prodigy can put out a good album.

Stupid rappers!

Anyway, I blame Ian! If he would get off of his harem once in a while and read my blog more regularly this never would've happened!

Last Vonnegut Thing...

2007-04-16T20:09:00.000-04:00

...I promise. My wife found this and I thought it was well done. I know a lot of you out there really liked Vonnegut as well.

For The Women Out There...

2007-04-16T20:07:00.000-04:00

You Have HPV

2007-04-16T13:32:00.000-04:00

Study: You Have HPV

ATLANTA—The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released updated human papillomavirus infection rate statistics Tuesday, which...

Ode to Kurt Vonnegut

2007-04-13T08:54:00.000-04:00

If you've ever read Kurt Vonnegut before, you'll know this Onion piece is an accurate tribute.

So it goes.

Kurt Vonnegut Dead

Kurt Vonnegut, author of The Sirens of Titan and Slaughterhouse-Five, died late Wednesday evening of head injuries sustained in a fall...

It's a sad day.

2007-04-12T11:26:00.000-04:00

Today, one of my heroes has died. Kurt Vonnegut has died at the age of 84. He wrote some of the best books in modern history and was a briliant satirist and humanist. It has been a while since he last wrote a book of fiction, but his passing makes me miss him even more. I'm very sad today!
I will miss you Kurt. Your works have affected me profoundly.

R.I.P. Kurt Vonnegut November 11, 1922 - April 12, 2007

Don't Blink Or You Might Miss It!

2007-04-11T20:49:00.000-04:00

Do you feel like you have a sixth sense about some things? Like you know the answer to a question before the question was even asked. This sixth sense of yours is specific too. It doesn't apply to everything. I have this skill when it come to music and people. I can hear a song and almost instantly I have an idea as to: whether I will like the song, whether the song will have that lasting appeal that really good songs have, or will the song be a flash in the pan for a few months. I also have this skill with people. I've been told on many occasions that I have an excellent read on people's personality, by just looking at them or meeting them with a quick two second hand shake.

Why do I bring this up now? Well I'm reading Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. This book was recommended to my by my friend Steve in, the new center of the universe, Calgary. He recommended it a few months ago, maybe even a year ago, but I only just received it as a gift at Christmas, along with Malcolm Gladwell's other book The Tipping Point. I'm not quite finished Blink, but I'm about 70% through the book and find it completely fascinating. The whole premise about the book is about how your mind works in a split second to give you a gut reaction. This gut reaction is based, a lot, on your experiences and knowledge, even though its a completely subconscious action. We have no idea how our mind does it and when asked why we have such a feeling, we can't explain it in tangible, valid terms.

A lot of people would like to say this have this ability with almost any subject, but that's just their ego speaking. I love when dense people think they can read people really well, yet they are constantly shocked by the treatment they receive at these other people's hands or are taken advantage of by these people. I'll admit it, sometimes I do misjudge someone, but that is few and far between for me. Just like the book states, I don't know how my brain decides this, but I can make these judgments. I will look at someone and I can tell whether the person is genuine, a phony, egotistical, etc. Now that may not so impressive, but nobody is really that one-dimensional. My ability goes beyond that simple layer of a personality, but I can get tell if the person is really egotistical, but a nice guy at heart, or a guy that comes across as genuine but will stab you in the back. I know what buttons to push with some to get them all riled up, just by looking at them. Are they a bible-thumper? Politcal? Self-conscious? etc.

It's really hard to explain this in text and without you having experienced this skill of mine, but trust me I have it. My brother-in-law was one of the latest to compliment me on this skill. We met someone a while back and I told him, "This girl is a bitch and has no respect for you or anyone else. She has an huge ego and doesn't like to be contradicted." He disagreed with my until he was blue in the face saying, "no she's really nice and down to earth. You don't work with her like I do, I see the real insert name here." A few months pass and she did everything I predicted.

I suggest you go and read Blink to get a better understanding of what I'm talking about here. In the meantime I will start my own business offering my services to would-be brides and grooms judging their potential partners. I see big bucks in this!

Pandatrocity!

2007-04-10T19:37:00.001-04:00

Controversy In Captivity

Oh! BTW.

2007-04-09T17:23:00.000-04:00

Just in case you haven't noticed, I've upgraded my blogger to the latest and greatest version. One of the new features I've added to this blog is the video reel you can place on your blog. I've placed a video reel at the very bottom oh my blog, you have to scroll to the very bottom of this page to see it. It's titled Dream Girl, because the video reel I've added is of the And One video for their song Traumfrau (ger. Dream Girl). I plan on updating this video reel once in a while, if I find something new and exciting on YouTube. Hope you find them entertaining.

ARGH! WTF?

2007-04-09T17:12:00.000-04:00

This is for real! The Prodigy have released their 5th studio album and it's absolute SHIT! WTF! What on earth was Liam thinking doing a Rap/Hip-Hop album? I could understand he wanted to help out a buddy and do the music for his album, but at least change the name of the artist. Don't leave it under the Prodigy!!!!

Thank God for iTunes is all I have to say. I was so excited to see a new Prodigy album up for sale on Amazon that I went to iTunes to do a quick preview of the songs. Let me just say it is extremely unfortunate that I didn't have a camera on my face when I heard the first song and then skipped to the second song and realized the first wasn't a joke.

I have not listen to the whole album, so don't consider this a review, but if you hate rap and hip-hop like myself and like the various sounds the Prodigy has had over the years then this album is NOT for you or me.

ARGH! WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY?

Chad Vader

2007-04-05T22:55:00.000-04:00

Okay people, here is something new and interesting. This has become a fun way for me to kill my days in the office. My wife was the one who told me about this show and she in turn heard about it from a friend. The show is about Chad Vader, a grocery store manager, who just so happens to be dressed and acts like Darth Vader. It's really corny, but actually very amusing. This is either some kind of film school project or just a project a bunch of bored guys decided to put together. Trust me, you'll get hooked and will be waiting anxiously for Episode 8. God bless YouTube! I've linked them all below to save you the effort of having to do the searches. Enjoy!

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Movies My Rock

2007-03-28T20:53:00.000-04:00

So I did music, now it's movie time.

A movie I'd been dying to see for quite some time was Water. This movie is done by phenomenal filmmaker Deepa Mehta. She really has a gift for capturing the time and emotion of past events. Water revolves around a house in 1930 India where widows end up spending the rest of their lives after their husband dies. The twist on this seemingly innocent ideal is that most of these women have lived here all their lives as they were married young and became widows at young ages such as eight or nine. The movie starts with a young girl being placed in this home by her father as she has just become a widow. The movie captures the emotion and turmoil these women had to live through while delving into the issues such as love and religion. The movie sparked outrage in India and Deepa Mehta had to move filming of this movie to Sri Lanka to escape Hindu extremists opposed to this film. I think the movie is captivating, engaging, passionate and extremely well done. I would recommend this movie to anyone and strongly suggest you all see it. *****

The next movie I want to quickly mention is Walmart - The High Cost of Low Prices.
This films is a scathing documentary on the business practices of the worlds largest store chain. I was already somewhat aware of how Mao-Mart operated and and tried to limit my purchases at this store to just regular items like toiletries and other generic products. I did my best to avoid buying any clothing products from them, as I didn't want to support their Chinese slave labour. After watching this movie I've decided I will have nothing to do with this store ever again. Even my wife has joined me and together we will avoid Wal-Mart. Of course this documentary was put together by far left winged activists; however, they have not been sued, thus the content must be true and accurate. The movie simply made me disgusted with capitalism and even myself for having supported them in even the slightest. I'm not suggesting that you should follow my lead and avoid Wal-Mart as that is your own decision. However, I think if you watch this movie you will find it hard to continue shopping there. Everyone's financial picture is different and Wal-Mart does provide some relief to certain segments of society. I would like to see Wal-Mart and all of it's beliefs disappear from society forever. This will probably never happen, but I will at least be able to hold my head high and say I didn't and don't support them.

If you watch this movie and begin to debate making the same decision as myself here are a few things to consider:
1) Other more reputable stores have SALES! Buy from them when sales are on and you'd be surprised to find that Wal-Mart's prices aren't that remarkable.
2) Is saving $10 on a $100 bill really worth supporting what this company stands for? Most of us out there are middle income professional people. We can afford the $10 to not enslave and punish the third world.

Music My Rock

2007-03-28T20:32:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I did some music reviews so I thought I would do a handful of albums I picked up recently. Hope this helps you realize the radio sucks!

Let's start with k-Os. I recently got all three of his albums as gifts from my wife and let me say on the record, "this guy is amazing!" He is genuinely talented, and writes beautiful songs. If you're unfamiliar with him he's a "rapper" from Pickering, ON and he completely redeems Canadian music. I placed rapper in quotes, because honestly I don't see him as a rapper. His songs are a blend of rap, reggae, rock, soul and funk. He does everything and he does it well. If you are looking for something a little different, yet funky enough to make you move and have some fun k-Os is your man. He has three albums out, as I mentioned earlier: Exit, Joyful Rebellion, and Atlantis:Hymns for Disco. I strongly recommend giving him a try. Download the following for a trial: Sunday Morning, Flypaper, Crabbuckit, the Love Song and Man I Used To Be.

Next on the list is my favourite band of all times, Skinny Puppy. They are the band that really evolved industrial music into what it is today. After the heroin overdose of a member about a decade ago the band called it quits and they all tried to fix their drug problems and try out new musical project. However, about two or three years ago, the two remaining members got back together to release The Greater Wrong of the Right. It's now a few years later and they have followed up with their second album since reforming, Mythmaker. It's hard to review and album like this, since Skinny Puppy will always have that distinctive sound from the '80s and early '90s. The best way to approach their new work is to try and forget their old sound and embrace their new stuff and NEW. The computers and electronics are more modern and their sound lacks the angst ridden aggression they used to have, I guess we all get older. Mythmaker is really a good follow up to The Greater Wrong of the Right. The album has a similar sound, but sounds more evolved, almost like they are re-learning what they can do together. It's a step forward from The Greater Wrong of the Right, but it's certainly not Too Dark Park or ViVisectVI. If you are a Skinny Puppy fan I suggest getting the album. I think you'll be pleased, but you won't be blown away. If you want to discover Skinny Puppy I strongly suggest picking up Too Dark Park, in my opinion the greatest album ever created.

Le Clos Jordanne

2007-03-27T20:23:00.000-04:00

Let me start off by saying...WOW! LIKE REALLY WOW!

My wife and I were blown away this wine. The wine is Le Clos Jordanne Pinot Noir by Le Clos Jordanne vineyard. This was their second from the top Pinot. Priced at $30, it's not a steal, but it's not overly pricey.

Oh did I fail to mention that this is an Ontario wine. YES! ONTARIO MADE THIS BEAUTY.

So how did I try this? Well here is the story:
I had read in an article from Vines Magazine that, renowned British wine critic, Janice Robinson recently came to Canada to promote her latest book and was given around 70 Canadian wines to sample and review. Out of those 70 only 17 got stellar reviews. Surprise surprise! Luckily for me, I have about 3 of those 17 in my cellar! Great minds and tongues think alike. Anyways, back to the story. She had mentioned that this wine, as well as the $60 flagship Pinot from the vineyard, were remarkable.
Shortly after reading this, Vintages magazine appeared in my mailbox and in the March 3rd release was this wine. Unfortunately, I didn't place an order for this wine, but luckily for me I know the people who work at the LCBO. My buddy was able to steal a bottle from the only order in the store of 6 wines. Somebody only got 5 bottles instead of 6 MUWHAHAH!

You have to have connections!

In any event, I was trying to be optimistic and thought Janice Robinson has no reason to laud this wine, so it must be good. Yet, my fear of Ontario wines was not far from my thoughts.

So finally we had the wine with a roasted chicken and risotto dinner. The wine quite honestly blew us away. Maybe because we had such low expectations, but also it is a genuinely great wine. The Pinot had everything you could want from a Pinot. Aromas of cherry, silky smooth, barely any tannins, low acidity and a firm long finish. I honestly thought I was drinking a New Zealand Pinot. It is definitely not in the style of a Burgundy, but I think that has more to do with terroir than wine making style.

I was so impressed with this wine, and wanted any reason at all to give Ontario wine a chance, I immediately searched the LCBO database for more of this wine. Too bad for all of us, this wine is long gone. Sold out in no time at all. I guess we all caught on.

My passion for this wine did not end there. I had to learn more about this vineyard and why it was so successful. Upon reading many articles, I discovered that the wine maker is a very skilled and experienced man. Trained in Beaune, France and did work terms in Burgundy, and Oregon. Both make exceptional Pinot. One thing that really got my attention was his passion for wine, not Ontario. His reason for leaving France and Oregon for Ontario was not some stupid idealistic nationalism, but his belief in the terroir of the Niagara Peninsula. The wine maker, Thomas Bachelder, also holds the same opinion as myself that Ontario vineyards are growing the wrong grapes and too many of them. He believes that the Niagara climate can only accommodate three grapes: Riesling, Chardonnay, and my beloved Pinot Noir. Another major reason why Le Clos Jordanne made such a great wine is the important principle of low-yield wines. When you make wines from low yields you create a wine from only the best grapes, not semi-ripe or rotten grapes.

I am so impressed by this wine, that I had to think long and hard about bringing it to everyone's attention, but Ontario wine needs a real kick in the pants and this wine may just do it. If those nationalistic people out there realize the quality wine that can come from Ontario and realize that what they've been drinking is shit, maybe the market will start to demand better quality. Ontario wines have a very special market. Most of their drinkers don't know a whole heck of a lot about wine and just want to support the local economy. Rarely, does the Ontario wine maker have a hard time selling wine, because of a loyal fan base. But, at the same time, expectations are low; thus, the success of selling an Ontario Cabernet Sauvignon or Syrah (not cold climate grapes).

I'll conclude with two things:

1) A link to a very interesting interview with Thomas Bachelder done by Tony Aspler.
and
2) I will be lining up to place an order for next years release of this Pinot. Here's hoping for a good year!

How to Catch the Big One!?

2007-03-27T19:46:00.000-04:00

"Hmm! No roadkill? Must be my B.O."

Ya so, I think I've mentioned Fredneck before. Well here he is in action, lowering my land value.
My wife named this redneck neighbour of ours, Fred, Fredneck. You can't tell me that isn't a perfect name.

If Fredneck isn't fishing for roadkill on our street he busy setting up an aviary for decoy geese on his front lawn.

I love having a neighbour like Fredneck. If it wasn't for Fredneck I'd be making a huge profit on the potential sale of my house, but due to his concern for my well being he is able to ensure my house value never exceeds the purchase price. What a pal!

Sure, this photo looks like a guy just testing out his new fishing line, but trust me it's not that innocent. This is Fredneck. Innocence means nothing in his world. He is just an idiot, plain and simple.

Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me later on, since my wife informed me he was still fishing on the road, but was also deep into a conversation on his cell phone. Yes, this wasn't one or two test casts. He was out there for a good half hour.

Welcome to my street.

North American News Is Really For Idiots!

2007-03-21T21:42:00.000-04:00

I had to write this after seeing one of those thirty second news updates to get you to watch the news at eleven. On CTV, Lloyd Robertson came on and said, roughly, "The death of an Alberta woman is raising questions about buying prescription drugs online. What you need to know?"

Umm. How about DON'T!

This is why I only watch the BBC! No moronic special reports about the guy down the street's spoiled brat kid who really really wants to play in the NHL.

First Day Of Spring

2007-03-21T20:20:00.001-04:00

Yes, I know. I took a long break. Really I meant it to only be a week, for the March break, but it extended a few days into this week out of laziness.

So here's a short summary of what's new with me:
1)Joined a gym with my wife -BEEEEEFCAAAAAAKEEEE!
2)Painted our two upstairs bathrooms
3)Watched a few movies - I'll discuss those shortly.
4)Wife's birthday yesterday

So that's a quick run down of what you've missed in my life.

Today is the first day of spring so I decided it was a good a time as any to start writing again.

So this quick post is about a short article I read recently. I had recently finished reading Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk and was not ready to start full-on into another novel so I picked up Tom Robbins' Wild Ducks Flying Backwards. This book is a fairly lengthy compilation of short stories, articles, lyrics, poems and other miscellaneous stuff he's written over his career. The article I decided to read - to kill some time until I started my next novel - was an essay he wrote tackling the topic of what is art? and what is politics?

I searched the web for ever trying to find a link to the essay, but it appears you can only find it in the aforementioned book. So here is the title in case you wish to search yourself: What Is Art and If We Know What Art Is, What Is Politics? In this essay Tom's main point is that art is first and foremost about the aesthetics, not the politics. This applies to music, visual art and movies. He is basically challenging the opinion that the politics makes the piece important and the aesthetics are secondary. I have always disagreed with this point as my views are very much inline with those of Tom's, in this essay. Tom's main point is that a piece is memorable, because it reaches the viewer, listener with something inexplicable that only passion and appreciation can justify. It's only after this effect does the secondary politics of the piece become more powerful. What Tom was trying to say was that artists create the art first and the art is influenced by the politics of the world around them. When artists create pieces to reflect or are driven by politics it no longer remains art, since the point of the piece is not about aesthetics, but rather the politics. Now this is certain to get many people's hairs on edge and they would drastically disagree. His argument to these people who would bring Picasso's Guernica into the argument, is that Picasso did not create Guernica to be a political message, but rather it was influence by the politics of what Spain and Picasso were dealing with. Picasso did not create Guernica to be a political statement, but rather we - as a society - saw the aesthetic value of this creation, but also saw the underlining pain and horror that influenced the piece. If the aesthetics were not there the piece would be forgotten no matter how important the message was.
In summary, Tom's argument is that should Picasso have created Guernica to be a political statement first and foremost, it would no longer be art, but propaganda. Picasso created a piece of art and it just so happened to be influence by his past, present and the situations present in Spain.

My little summary cannot do justice to the essay written by Mr. Robbins, so I strongly recommend you read the essay for yourself. Even the essay itself will be surrounded with controversy, since anytime you try to tackle the highly contentious issue of "What is art?" you will no doubt step on someone else's - very emotional - opinion.

I'll conclude with another point Tom argues and that is art is functionally useless that's what makes it so important and amazing!

The KLF Is Gonna Rock You!

2007-03-08T20:01:00.000-05:00

As I sit at my trusty iBook, while surfing the web, and sip some luscious Madiera, I decide to do this posting on The KLF.

If you're unfamiliar with The KLF, this post should help educate you. The main reason I write this post is I can tackle two items in one posting. Originally, I had planned to simply talk about the album, The White Room, which I recently bought, but after a discussion with my cousin, Jamie, I decide to cover some other interesting topics.

The KLF is not a recent group, by any means. Truth is The KLF is a late 80s early 90s techno project. Their biggest hit came with the album The White Room. This album had the memorable songs, What Time is Love? and 3 A.M. Eternal. If you were a teenager listening to the music scene during this time you most definitely heard these songs. I loved them when I first heard them; however, never bought the album until this year. Blame it on teenage nostalgia! The truth about most of the music I listen to and this holds true for The KLF as well, is they are usually under appreciated and way ahead of their time. If the KLF would have existed during the mid 90s techno scene of The Progidy, Chemical Brothers and the like they would have been a huge success. Despite their awkward timing, they apparently made a killing financially. When you listen to songs like 3 A.M. Eternal and Last Train To Transcentral you can't help but hear the influence they must have had on bands like Leftfield or Underworld. Like I said they were way ahead of their time.

One interesting revelation I was not aware of was the connection between The Orb and The KLF. My cousin was close, but not precise when saying that one of the two members from The KLF was a founding member of the ambient genius that is The Orb. He had thought that Dr. Alex Paterson was a KLF member, but in actuality he is not, but The KLF member Cauty was the member who joined Alex Paterson to create The Orb, with Youth. In any event, I found this connection quite interesting, since I like to know everything about music.

The one weakness that The KLF had was their vocals. Some songs had great female vocalists and even did a song with country legend Tammy Wynette that was acutally great. The songs that bother me the most are the ones with really crappy 80s rapping. It's hard to ignore the cheesiness of 80s rap. The only good thing about 80s rap is nobody is trying to cap yo' ass!

In any event, if you are a big acid/house techno fan you will want to pick up this album and see where the scene evolved from. CD is cheap at Amazon these days. I should also give some credit in the techno scene to 2Unlimited, even though I hate them.

Always remember, nothing is original. Everything evolved from something else...unless you believe in creationism! =)

Simple Beauty

2007-03-07T09:48:00.000-05:00

New Bike!

2007-03-06T21:58:00.000-05:00

I FINALLY HAVE A RACING BIKE!

I actually bought this bike before my trip to Denver. A local bike shop is having a pre-spring sale and I was able to buy this Norco bike, normally $1200, for $850. WOOHOO! I've been waiting for ages to buy a racing bike. I've always had mountain bikes that I use for leisure or biking to work, but I've always wanted a lean mean racing bike machine. It's far from top of the line, but it will serve its purpose and make me very happy.

As I said before it's not a top of the line bike made from carbon fiber. Those things run close to $5000. Mine is aluminum and is heavier than a carbon fiber, but still lighter than anything I've ever had before. I'm so excited for spring when I can go biking. Plus, for buying during the sale they give you a $50 gift card. I will have to go back and buy the elbow pads and V-neck with it. So if you see a bullet go riding buy...it's probably me! WOOOOHOOOOOO

10 Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead

2007-03-06T21:18:00.000-05:00

So I've been off the map for a while. Laziness isn't really too blame...well not 100% at least.

Last week I was in Denver, Colorado for an work related conference. The Protection Engineers Group, PEG Conference. The conference is an annual event for engineers in North America who are responsible for the protection of communications.

The conference itself was not too bad. Some shit presentations and some interesting and useful ones. To be expected I guess. The conference was not actually in Denver proper, but a suburb called Westminster....where all the rich white people hide. The town was actually very nice with big homes and fancy plazas and a beautiful view of the Rockie Mountains. Denver on the other hand is a hole. I swear it made me think, "a safer, more upscale Detroit". The town has nothing to do in it and really is probably just a hub for people who are going skiing in Vail, Aspen or Breckenridge. My womanizing colleague, Stephane, actually made the trip out to Vail to do some skiing and try to pick up ski bunnies.

So the surroundings were nice and I've posted some photos below, but the real highlight was the conference itself. We all know the stereotypes about engineers: geeky, no style, obsessed with math and science and can't have a normal discussion with people without taking about their jobs. Thankfully, I don't fit that stereotype...or at least I hope not! Well this conference was not a gathering to help dispel this image of engineers. The group gathered had a large majority of freaky engineers. One guy in particular stood out. This guy was probably around 75 or 80, 300lbs or more. Every day this guy would wear the same plaid shirt and it was more than obvious he never showered the whole week. His hair was always a greasy matted mess. To add to his natural sex appeal he had three cell phones and was always surfing the web on his laptop during other peoples' presentations. I found out from some other people that this guy, apparently, has 6 antennas on his car: CB, UHF, VHF, Cellular, CDMA and God knows what the 6th one was. I think my colleague from the West summarized this beast the best, "I bet he gets all the women!"

So that was my week. All in all, it was fun to spend time with my Quebec colleagues and have lots of fun insulting each other. Before I leave you with some pictures of Westminster, Colorado I thought I should give you a little bit of a heads up on the future of Quebec's separation. A lot of the guys from Quebec I was with are separatist. When asked whether they would vote for the Parti Quebecois and their cocaine snorting, homosexual leader, Boisclair, they responded "Are you crazy?"

Canada will remain unified for at least another 4 years!