I think the bug's got me!!

Dang,
I think (snif! snif!)the cold virus has finally caught up with me! (snif! snif!)

Runny nose, ear ache, head ache, heavy eyes... argh. What to do... It's funny how everyone's family has its own secret reciepe for helping out with a flu or cold. Today at work, as i went from meeting to meeting (speading my germs), everyone had a good family tip on what to do before it gets too worse... (snif! snif!) cubed ginger in warm honney'ed water, hard liquor, ecchenacia (although 2 people said I was too far along for it to have any effect), multi-vitamins, (snif! snif!) vitamin C and lots and lots of liquids.

Liquids = okay... no sweat! (snif! snif!) Vitamine C = Been taking some recently... apparently you can't overdose so let's go with 1000mg per day. Cubed ginger drink.. maybe when I got grocery shopping tomorrow i'll buy real ginger (somehow I doubt the power on my spice rack will do the trick. Ecchenacia.. (snif! snif!) can't hurt - i'm on it! Gin or any other warm liquor... I actually tried this last year when I had a phlegmy cold and this sick-boy likes his gin when he has aa cough! If anyone has any other tricks, let me know! I'm declaring war to these sniffles! I even bought the thick, soft kind of kleenex! (snif!)

COLDPLAY Comes to town!!!

It was announced this morning by a local radio station. Coldplay, the Second biggest band in the world (Heh heh heh... like it?), is comming to Ottawa on March 17th 2005.

This just in from Coldplaying.com

"Meanwhile a new 2006 tour date has sprouted on talkthetour.com - Coldplay will play at the Corel Centre in Ottawa, ON on the 17th March."

I am in musical heaven now. Who would have though that the 2006 Concert season would start off so well... Woo Hoo!


In other news looks like Keane is coming to Canada this Sping as well... "Keane will be playing shows in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver as part of a North American tour this spring!"

Trish the Dish has published her first Online Rant

Read it here!!!

All Artoo can say is... "Whoa!!"

Emperor Martin and the Liberals fall!

Let there be Elections!!

Tick, toc, tick, toc... Elections about to be declared...

David Suzuki


Clock ticks down to crucial no-confidence vote in Parliament tonight, I stumble upon this article on bourque.org.

If this man were running for PM, he would definately have my vote!

Could it be...

Not quite positive about this but it does indeed correspond to where we were...

Best band in the World Rocked Ottawa last night and I was there!!!!

Yes, after months and months of waiting. After countless hours of frustrations trying to get a ticket to the event thought CapitalTicket.ca, I finally got my ticket and what a ticket it was. Floor Level baby!!! 6th or 7th row from the catwalk!!! My friend Trish was able to find my buddy Claude and I some tickets at the 11th hour! Thank you again Trish!

What to say. I had a wonderful time. The opening band was great (Arcade Fire) and the show pretty much blew the place dowm. It wad been a few months since I had been to a concert in an arena... The last one was Duran Duran in Montreal last Spring. They did not dissapoint. Everything I wanted to hear I heard. THe stage was pretty cool and the fact that they played 15-20 feet from us was totally awesome.

Claude and I drove to the Corel Centre through the back way and did not get in Queen's Way traffic. We made very good time getting to the arena. Once inside, we met up with our friends Joelle and Ryan on the floor. It was great to bump into them just like that. We hung out a little but and then the show started. It's strange that I did not know theopening band. Ryan said they were cool and he was right. This morning I d/led some songs of theirs and they are quite tight as a unit. very melodic and a band i will no doubt follow more closely.

As they played I had a thought about the discovery of new music. I find it so cool that I know so many songs and so many bands yet, there will always be new ones that give me goose bumps... music is something that constantly evolves and will be forever a discovery ground. Quite cool when you think about it.

The set list was as follow:

2005-11-25: Corel Centre, Ottawa - Ontario
Support Act: Arcade Fire
City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
Elevation
I Will Follow
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / In A Little While (snippet)
Beautiful Day
Original Of The Species
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Love And Peace Or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday / Rock The Casbah (snippet)
Bullet The Blue Sky / The Hands That Built America (snippet) / When Johnny Comes Marching Home (snippet)
Miss Sarajevo
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Where The Streets Have No Name
One

encore(s):
Until The End Of The World
Mysterious Ways
With Or Without You
Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of
Yahweh
40


Some moments were simply surreal. We had to pinch ourselves. What is it that makes music sooo good for the soul.

I picked up the tour program for 20$. I resisted the $45 T-shirts they sold inside the arena and while we were walking to the car, I picked up a bootleg one for $10. A steal. So I bought some unofficial merchandise... what can I say.

This evening rocked. Thanks to all who made it so cool!

Lost my watch... sad!

When I was a Kid I had a watch... This was the watch. In the early 90s, I lost my watch. I am still sad. :(

Artoo's BBS and Artoo's Space now one!

I have been playing with a personal web site or some version of an online space where people can read some of my ramblings since 1991... yeah, you read correctly... When i lived at my parents in my late teen, I player and dabbled into the wonderful world of the BBS (Bulletin Board System).

This was before the Internet. I used to use my dad's 286 and a 2400 baud modem and used my phone line. For those unaware of how this worked, a person would have a computer set up with a special BBS software on their computer and would leave the computer open with a modem connected to it. People would then call in and log onto your BBS and navigate onto your BBS. They could do numerous things: download or upload files, play online games (such as Trade Wars 2002), read messages and reply to them, etc.

Once they were done, they would hang up and the next person who called would log on. A few times a day, the BBS computer would call what was called a HUB computer and exchange old mail messages for new ones (I was a node on FidoNet's Message System). The HUB would then send it along to another HUB and the mail would go around the world like that. A reply could come back to you within a few days or a week depending on the location of the sender (e.g.: someone from Australia that would reply to your message would transmit that reply one computer at a time across the world).

This was pre-Internet days and considered an underground way of communicating.

My first BBS was called R2d2's BBS. Yes, Even back then I used a droid-inspired nick. R2d2's BBS evolved into Artoo's BBS. I used a few different software programs to run my BBS but the main one I fell back to over the few years my BBS was open was "Maximus". I loved Max because it was quite customizable. I was able to create ASCII art and animation amd give the visotor a cool Star Wars inspired visit.

A few year later when the WWW was available to everyone, my online presence became Artoo's Space on the Web.

This past week-end I excided it would be cool to try to go back and introduce the content from my old BBS days and old website days into a blog format. This will of course take time but should make for an interesting archive of thoughts over the last 15 years.

Update 1: I just input the text data from last year's "Artoo's Space on the Web" which was hosted on Rogers.com. There wasn't that much stuff on that site but since I had to create the Blog template as well, I am quite happy with the result. It's a step on a long process but i'm not putting any deadline on this... I'm just doing this for fun. Next up a way to get the old photos up.

Keane - Hopes and Fears

For the last year or so I have been listening to many albums on my Ipod. But the one CD i seem to always go back to is from a band named KEANE. Their debut CD is called Hopes and Fears. It will no dount be in my top 5 CDs of the year along with the latest Coldplay CD.

Interestingly enough Keane and Coldplay share a similar music vibe. Lyrical piano and power melodies for the soul. I encourage you all to check them out.

Official Site

U2 tomorrow!!!

A quick thank you to Trish who was able to locate U2 Tix for Claude and me.
Awsome.

Went shopping at Rideau with Trish tonight. Picked up the new Keane DVD. Ithink i am on a ration from mow to Xmas. Cinful One said that I can't buy anything until Christmas. I will try.

I also bought a pair of black shoes. One can never have too many pairs of black shoes.

Pat Morita R.I.P.

Pat "Mr.Miyagi" Morita passed away today. Thank you for the memories. I remember him fondly as the original Arnold on Happy Days. Thank you for the laughter!

An interview I found on theforce.net

Wow, this is funny. I just found something cool on THEFORCE.NET!! Claude, Ryan, check this out!

I just found an old interview I gave back in the days (1995). This was for a StarWars themed Online publication. I was right after I had closed R2d2's BBS. What a blast from the past!! This is hilarious! Quite a few Typos in there though... Heheheh..

Original Out of the MAW #3 Document

(START ARTICLE QUOTE)

C O N T E N T S

OUT OF THE MAW - Features for March 1995:

VI. Echolites Of The Month We MAKE Ben Verreault/Matt Schulz talk.

(...)

====================================

E C H O L I T E S O F T H E M O N T H

This month, we have two of the Echo's more seasoned veterans with us. I
think Benoit Verreault and Matt Schulz have been on the Echo longer than
just about anybody. They were posting when I first connected here about
two years ago, and they're still around. Let's chat with them:

OOTM: Give us a quick bio on yourselves (age, occupation, status, etc.).

Ben: Name's Benoit, I was born of the fourth of July 1974. I am a full-time student at Ottawa University working on a double major in Communication and Arts. I just got engaged with my high school sweetheart, Melissa, this past Christmas. I am beginning to have quite a collection of SW books and collectibles. Most of the
stuff I have is from the early 80's though it seems now that the new stuff is starting to take more and more of the available shelf space.

OOTM: To what extent do you enjoy participating in the Echo?

Ben: I've been on the echo for 3 or 4 years now. I used to run a local BBS a couple of years ago called R2d2's BBS. Yep, it was a Star Wars themed board. Got hooked on the echo as soon as I discovered it. I found that locally, there weren't many SW fans and that this medium was exactly the kind of stuff I was looking for. I currently receive a few Fido echoes directly at home through a point system
I've set up with a BBS here in town. To me the echo is an excellent source to find accurate information on the hobby that I cherish the most. I've made quite a few connections through the echo and I regularly correspond through email with many Echolites and ex-Echolites.

OOTM: Personally, what scene from the trilogy stands out the most in your mind?

Ben: This one's easy. To me, the most riveting scene in the trilogy is when Luke gives in to anger and yells his classic "NOOOOOO!!!!" The music behind that scene is awesome...

OOTM: Name your favorite alien from any form of Star Wars literature, and why.

Ben: Favorite alien is undoubtedly Yoda. Many times, have I imagined how this little guy has had an impact on the whole galaxy. He is a creature that has had his own problems in the past and in my opinion, the reason he is on Dagobah is to, not only hide from possible Dark Force Jedi, but also to hide some of his own past actions...

OOTM: Any fond remembrances of Star Wars from your childhood?

Ben: I was 5 when I first saw Star Wars. I don't fully remember the experience, but I DO remember being there. SW is the first movie I actually remember seeing. I saw it at a Drive-In and I remember being in the back seat of the car staring at the line of cars in front of us as the traffic leading to the drive-in was completely
to a stop. I was so scared that there wouldn't be enough room for us to get in. My first figure was bought at Sears, and i remember choosing C-3P0. That little guy was so beat up by the time ROTJ came out that all his limbs fell apart. I remember putting him back together and replaying the ESB scene where he gets blown to
bits by a Stormtrooper.

I don't know if anyone ever did this, but I used to cut out all the little pictures on the backs of the Kenner Figure Cards and play with these tiny cardboard players. Give a kid a huge toy in a box and he'll probably have more fun playing with the empty box instead of the toy itself.

OOTM: What are your expectations for the new movies?

Ben: Expectations is such a big word! I won't get into the plot stuff as I'm sure I'd get it all wrong. I will say that I have a great deal of respect for Mr. Lucas and that I'm positive he will blow us away with the prequels.

The Special Effects of SW still stand out some 15-20 years later, but to me, it's the story that has always done it. I'm sure the next movies will work in the same way. Most movies today lack that basic storyline, it's all glossy pages and slip covers, no real content.

Thanks a ton to both Matt and Benoit for taking the time to answer all my
questions. If you are interested in participating in an Echolite of the
Month interview, just contact me on the Echo, and we'll see what we can do.

(END QUOTE)

Man, that was 10 years ago!!! I'm not sio sure Lucas blew us away with the prequels though! :)

Public Works issues new "No Hire" policy for white men.

Check this article out!

Private bathroom you say!!

Star Wars DVDs... the circle is now complete.

The final installment of the Star Wars films is now out on DVD. In honour of the release, i found this cool site wgich details bloopers from the holy trilogy. Enjoy!

http://www.egosystem.com/starwars/bloopers.htm

Did you know...

A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players may interact with in order to achieve a goal (or set of goals). On the other hand, a video game is a computer game where a video display is the primary feedback device. However, in common usage "computer game" refers to games played on a personal computer, while "video game" (or "videogame") refers to games played on a video game console. Both "computer games" and "video games" are frequently used as umbrella terms for interactive game software.

A game is composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with. Player input is taken through various types of controls, and output is usually given through a screen and sound devices. Video game consoles usually utilize an input device called a controller, which contains a number of buttons and one or two analog sticks. Games played upon home computers may utilize an keyboard, mouse, or joystick (usually in some combination).

Now you know!

ASTÉRIX - New comic book is a good read.

I picked up the new Asterix book a couple of weeks ago and here are my initial comments and thoughts on it.

I must admit that it has a different flavour than the previous adventures... It involves aliens visiting the village. Yeah, you read correctly ... aliens.

My initial reaction reading it was: dissapointment. After a few days of thinking about it, I liked the book a little more than initially.. but still...

The action and storyline really takes place on a second level... what you read in the book is a metaphor for the arms race... the conclusion is an obvious one when you give superpowers similar weapons of mass destruction. Even forces just end up wasting alot of people's time.

Do I recommend the book... I would have to say "no". It's missing something that previous books had... Maybe worth checking it out at a library or reading it at Chapters... Hehehe!