Mini-DVD Review: RENT

I must admit that it's hard for me to be totally unbias when writing this review. I love the Larson play Rent. Of all the musicals i've seen, Rent just hits home with me. The haunting message of living today for today is presented through this award winning play in a way that just takes it strait home for me.

I have seen the play twice now and would definately see it again someday. When I heard they were making a movie, I had mixed feelings about the whole thing. I guess it's like having a favorite book and hearing that they will make a film out of it (as an example - as excited as I am about it I do have some concerns about the upcoming Da Vinci Code film).

Well, that being said, I was pleasantly surprised by this film. There were some interesting additions and some interesting omissions in the silver screen version. They pretty much stuck with the dialogue of the theatre script but made some artistic choices to change some signing parts into spoken parts (in the musical, very few lines are spoken).

Actors were all great (especially the one who played Tom Collins - she should do more films if he's a theatre actor). I read somewhere that they were the original broadway cast member (not 100% sure - still need to watch the documentary on the seond disk). I won't get into the story too much. You like or you don't.

I will say that having seen it live and listened to the CDs a few dozen times, it did make this movie watching experience unique. I KNRW the dialogue before they actually said some of it. It was the first time that i watched something and knew the story in so much detail. The surprise element was all about figuring how they would represent the play in a movie setting. Cool way of watching something. I wouldn't want it to always be that way but this was a first.

I must admit that some of the lines might have been lost in the shuffle had I not known the dialogue so well. I have found this to be the case many times when watching musicals. I get caught up in the melodies and songs and don't get all the lyrics.

A pleasant viewing. I give this an 8/10.

Cup Fever is almost upon us!

With 10 games to go in the NHL season - Cup Fever is fast approaching for most canadians. Ottawa is on top of the conference, Montreal and the other canadian teams are all making a run for the playoffs... well almost every canadian team...

All I want for Christmas is a life-size Wookkie

Yesterday, amidst posts of Carbonite Jesus, we picked up on a cool auction on Ebay for a Star Wars prop replica of Han Solo in Carbonite. Alas, the Cinful One refuses to have this masterpiece in our future living room (I just don't get it!.

Today, the same Ebay seller is posting a life-size Wookkie for a mere US $3000.

Something tells me the answer will be "no".

I would much rather have a Han frozen in Carbonite prop replica!

Sometime you have to wonder…

http://www.jesusoftheweek.com/jesii/390/index.html
 

Weekender Report: 24-03 to 26-03

Fri

DHL Delivery Service Administration Office = BAD, DHL Local Driver = COOL

I finally got my iPod back on Friday. Yeah, I know, we've all read this before. Well The bloody thing was shipped express last Monday from Apple via a company called DHL. I had been checking the Apple site to see the progress of the repair or replacement and was able to get a tracking number for DHL. When The thing hadn't reached me by Wednesday, I tried to call DHL Ottawa. Their Web site said that an attempt had been made at my door and that they could not leave a note on the door. No way of getting in touch with a human, just voice mail box hell! How do they expect one to ship something if you can't reach them. I googled their address, they are out behind the airport in the middle of nowhere. Sheesh. Thursday, no word on the message I left with them. Another attempt was apparently made (again mid-day) according to their Web site. I reach someone at the main office in Toronto and the rude lady says she can't do a thing from her end but can give me the Ottawa office. I tell her about voicemail hell and she proceeds to tell me that if I can't get through, then neither will she. She then says that since they have attempted to deliver it twice, they won't try again. I will have to go out in the middle of nowhere (business hours only - Monday to Friday 9-5) to get it. After a week, it will be sent back to the sender.

Friday morning, I decide to leave a little post-it note on my door with my cell for the driver in the off-beat chance that they would try another delivery. Lo and behold the driver calls me. We make a meeting time downtown and he pulls through. The evil lady with the cushy admin job at the main office wasn't helpful, the whole Ottawa DHL Office people hiding behind voice mail didn't help… it was the little guy that makes the deliveries who made an unscheduled delivery after his shift that made my Friday! *sigh*
Oh and BTW, another replacement 4th Generation iPod for moi. Hope this 3rd one holds more than 2 months.
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On Friday was the first official one-on-one Tetris DS face-off between the Cinful One and Artoo. The Cinful One used all her evil tactics and stole the final win from a tired little droid (after all, he had just been in battle with the mean DHL lady earlier in the day). "I will have my revenge" exclaimed the tired robot.
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Sat

Trip down memory lane: As I mentioned earlier this week, I picked up a new digital camera this week. We decided to take in the nice weather and go take a walk in the neighbourhood where I grew up. I had fun. Everything looks so much smaller than it used to. Lol Now all I need to do is set myself up with one of these Flickr accounts.
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We watched the film Wicker Park on Saturday night. Cool movie. It's one of those films where the pay-off is revealed in the last 20 minutes and the scenes are not in chronological order. It took a while to get off the ground but as the story evolved, you understood why the director chose that approach. Little clues were given one by one. I love non linear storytelling. You can go back and re-watch the film and catch the more obvious clues that were missed on the first viewing. I definitely recommend this film. 7/10
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Sun
A relaxing day spent reading, fixing the stereo wires, and procrastinating… I should have done groceries and cleaned the house! As they say, tomorrow is another day!

Spring Cleaning Time : DVDs for Sale/Trade

Spring Cleaning Time! The following DVDs are available for sale or trade:

TV Shows:

• 3rd Rock from the Sun - Season 1, 2 ($50 set)
• Seinfeld Vol.1 (Season 1 & 2) ($40)
• The Critic - Complete Series ($35)
• Cheers Season 1 ($35)
• Twin Peaks Season 1 + Pilot Movie + Fire Walk with Me ($60 set)
• The Jeffersons - Season 1, 2 ($40 set)
• Good Times Season 1 ($15)
• The Osbournes Season 1 ($10)
  
• Superfriends - Season 1 ($25)
• Kindred The Embraced ($15)
  
• Mad about You - Season 1 ($20)
• Planet of the Apes - Complete TV Series ($40)
• Project Greenlight - Season 1 ($40)
• Collection complète de la Petite Vie + Le Bogue de l'an 2000 ($80 Set)
• Mystérieuse Cités d'or - Série complète ($60)
• Lance et compte - Saison 1 , 2 ($60 Set)
• Lucky Luke - La série - Coffret 1 ($35)
  

Others:

• Million Dollar Hotel (Mel Gibson) $5
• Silence of the Lambs , Hannibal, Red Dragon (5 DVD - $25 Set)
  
• Weird Science $5
• Sixteen Candles $5
• Cronos $10
• Collateral 2DVD $10
• Chicken Run $10
• Arcadia of My Youth $10
• SNL: Best of Dana Carvey $5
• Hulk $5
• Donnie Darko $10
  
• Man on The Moon $10
• Titan AE $10
• Clerks $10
• Drawing Flies $10
• Kids in the Hall - Tour of Duty $10
• Frankenstein $10
• IMAX: Everest $10
• Lupin III: Twilight Geminy $10
  
• Horror Classics (Satanic Rites of Dracula, Horroe Express, Jack the Ripper) $5
  
• Knight Rider Pilot Movie $5
• A Fish Called Wanda $5
  
• Wicker Park (Josh Harnett) $5
• Fantasia Anthology - 3 DVD Set $30
• Martin Matte: En Spectacle $10
• Patrick Huard: En Spectacle $10

Asian

• The Death Curse $4
  

Criterion Collection Films (ask for prices):

• Fishing with John
• Mona Lisa
• The Harder they come
• The Long Good Friday
• Alphaville
• The Shop on Main Street
• Billy Liar
• Blood For Dracula
• Flesh for Frankenstein
• VideoDrome

I encourage you to compare the prices with Amazon.ca or FutureShop.ca. Should you have a list of DVDs you have for trade, let me know and we'll see if we can't work something out. Cheers!

Slow New Week!

Slow news week .
Cinthia's parents left us some tickets to two show while they are in Florida: Rock'n'Roll Legends which I mentioned a few weeks back and Do you... Do you... Paris which we saw on Tuesday. My review: 4 out of 10. Why? It was a little like watching good karaoke. They had some good voirces, the costumes were okay but other than the occasional eye candy from the dancers, the whole show was a little flat. There was no live band, just sythetized melodies from classic 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s French music (I emphasize the capital "F" as it was only music from France). I guess what bothered me most was the fact that when I did recognize the songs, some of the beats or melodies were just a bit off in tempo or tone. Great time with C-girl, Martin and Anne-Marie but so-so show.
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Sopranos Episode #2 (Season 6) was .. ahm.. different - but I liked it a lot. It may not have been your typical mobster show with all tha it entails but it was really cool for them to go in a different direction here. I am currently watching the old 80s show Moonlighting and that show was famous for taking chances and doing great one-offs. I watched a cool episode the other night that was in black in white and took place in the 40s. On the audio commentary, they mentioned that they had to convince the network to film it in b/w. They even tacked on an intro with Orson Wells explaining that they were going to be switching to b/w in 10 minutes and that it was being done on purpose ("you're TV is not broken"). Funny.
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I finally bought a new digital camera. I chose the Cannon SD400. Good size, weight, quality and price. Can't wait to take some pix with it. It's a simple camera to operate and turns on to photo mode very quickly for those candid snaps! Happy!
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My "coup de coeur" of the week is the new Tetris DS game. This game is sooo cool. You can play online free of charge against people around the world through Nintendo Wi-Fi. Imagine, people in other countries could join in and beat Trish at Tetris. Talk about a goodwill gesture!! I will make a full review of the game when I have played with it some more.

Weekender Report from 17.03 to 19.03

Friday
What to say but: We saw Coldplay baby! The show rocked and we had a blast. Went to Mr. and Mrs. Bazinet-St-Martin prior to the concert for some grub. Got home fairly late and we fell asleep watching an episode of Moonlighting.

Saturday
Woke up and relaxed all day. Nothing exciting other than reliving the Coldplay concert through my home speakers. Found a nice MP3 copy of the Twisted Logic Tour online somewhere. Pretty much the same setlist.

Evening was spent at the Cinful One's place for a family gathering for her brother Luc's B-day. Good times. It's always funny to see someone's family members a little tipsy. Hope the headache wasn't too bad birthday boy!

Sunday
Nice day actually. We went for a little car trip in Gatineau to Value Village. Always cool to see another town's garbage. Didn't find any treasures. ON the way back, I bought the movie C.R.A.Z.Y. at BB. The films pretty much won all the major awards at the Genie and Jutras awards these past two weeks. It'll be interesting to see what all the houpla is about.

We ordered Green Papaya Pad Thai (GPPT) and watched a documentary on Maurice Richard (6/10) and the remaining episodes of Smallville Season 4. That last show pretty much made the season for me. I have to say that I much preferred the darkness of Season 3 but that last show was one of the top 2 or 3 Smallville shows to date. Simply awesome! So much so that I had to download the 1st episode of Season 5 to see what came next. Excellent cliffhanger!
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Other viewings: I forgot to mention my viewing of the movie Baises-Moi (a.k.a. Love Me) last week. Two words: Total crap! I would like my hour and a half back mr.director. 1/10

Coldplay Concert Review: Thanks for giving us your Friday night

The hype had been building for months: 7 tickets, the company of good friends and an amazing band that has come into it's own in recent years. What does that spell? 22th row floor tix, Cinthia, myself, Ryan, Claude, Sylvie (+ 2 of their friends) were at Scotia Bank Place to see the band Coldplay.

We got to the show in the middle of the opener. Rickard Ashcroft (ex-frontman for the band The Verve. He played two of the songs I wanted to hear which is fine as I'm not a huge fan of his. Lucky Man and the power song Bittersweet Symphony are probably his best tunes. The latter will most likely be one of those songs we will remember in 50 years from now. There is definately something magical about this tune (sampling legal battle issues with the Rolling Stones aside).

9:30 - The Twisted Logic Tour hits Ottawa! The set-up: a large rectangular video screen behind the band, a small upright piano in the middle of the stage, nice projections of images on each sides of the stage made for a simple show in ways of visuals but powerful in supporting the music. Red laserbeams were quite cool during the middle of their set (Artoo likes laserbeams. laserbeams cool!).

SETLIST:

Sqaure One
Politik
Yellow
Speed Of Sound
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face
X&Y
How You See The World
Don't Panic (w/ Jonny Buckland)
White Shadows
The Scientist
'Til Kingdom Come
Ring Of Fire (Johnny Cash Cover)
Trouble
Clocks
Talk
---
Swallowed In The Sea
In My Place
Fix You

Some highlights:

• Martin apologizing for his shaggy mop of hair, joking that if anyone was disappointed, they could get a $2 rebate off their ticket.
• During Yellow, 25 or so huge yellow balloons filled with gold sparkles dropping from the rafters for ice level audience members to play with.
• The nod given to canadian band Arcade Fire.
• Cool rendition of a Johnny Cash song.
  
• Ryan introduced to the concept of a chair.
• Red laser beams (cooooolll!)
• Incredible rendition of "Fix You" to close the show!
  

The show lasted about an hour 35 minutes. i can't say that there were any songs that I wanted to hear that didn't get played. Set was tight and very well staged. Interactions with the crowd was okay - no more. It was cool for the lead signer to run at the back of the arena and finish one of the songs standing on the boards.

I was quite pleased with our seats and I found the sound to be excellent throughout the Coldplay set. A definate high note for this great performance on a cold night in Ottawa.

Prepare yourselves!!

I dedicate this post to Véronique who does not like robots.

After watching War of the Worlds a few weeks ago, all kinds of crazy things started to appear in my dreams. One never knows what might happen next! Could the end be near? What if crazy robots decided to overtake humans? Don't wait until it's too late!

"If popular culture has taught us anything, it is that someday mankind must face and destroy the growing robot menace."

"In print and on the big screen we have been deluged with scenarios of robot malfunction, misuse, and outright rebellion. Robots have descended on us from outer space, escaped from top-secret laboratories, and even traveled back in time to destroy us."

Since I am one who wants to help his fellow man, woman and feminist (you'll be safe with me Trish!), I have gone oneline and found the ultimate resource to protect you all from possible doom!

How to spot a rebellious robot servant

Know your enemy

Fight Back



Will a robot uprising happen soon? Better to be safe than sorry - That's waht I say!

I think therefore I am vs. I am (insert allegiance) therefore I think

A little social commentary from my soapbox this morning. I was listening to a Chris Rock Special I recorded off Comedy Network last night (The special was called Never Scared, I think). I had seen this a while back but remembered this one comedy bit that I wanted to hear again. In it he spends the first half of the special doing his traditional rap music, blacks, whites, women, sex, violence social commentaries but then makes a swerve and talks about war, Al Quada, government lies, etc. To me, that's when it got really interesting.

He starts talking about liberals, democrats, conservatives, republicans and how all of them are fools. Why? Because "anyone who makes up their mind before hearing the issues is a fool!". Doesn't that sound right to you?

We work and live in a world where on numerous occasions, bi-polar debates are all that counts (I lump politics, religions and social alignment together in this). Are you for gays getting married? Say "Yes" if you're a liberal, say "no" if you're a conservative. For abortion? "Yay", if you're in the red party, "no" if you're blue. How about legalized Marijuana? Libs say "yes", Conservs say "no". It just seems that so many political leaders today have a standard beaten path of answers with a pre-decided points of view. Party votes "yay", well, I have to as well.

I can't say I've got a set political party that I really adhere to. On some issues, I have a conservative point of view, on others I have a liberal one. It depends on the issues at hand.

What ever happened to thinking about a question, letting it sit in your head for a while and then come out with what - you - really think.

Maybe people wouldn't have driven planes into buildings if extremist thinking didn't exists so much.

Crazy warning Issued by Ottawa Police!

Warning to all dog owners:

The Ottawa Police in conjunction with the OPP has issued a warning advising all dog owners to keep their dogs indoors this morning until further notice.

Dogs are being picked off one at a time on an almost continual basis throughout the city. They are falling in great numbers.

Police in the city advise all dog owners not to walk their dogs - KEEP THEM INDOORS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE! The OPP will release further information this afternoon.

Read the official Statement here.

Deja-vu: iPod sick = Artoo Sad

iPod going to the clinic again. Yep. I must say that I am not impressed by the 4th Generation model of the iPod. At least Apple is paying the round-trip this time around! (sigh)

Woke Up This Morning...

Whatcha gonna say... The best show of recent years is back on TV. The Sopranos came out with a bang this week. What a show! I won't go into details but man, did they start this season out with a good show!

Bada Bing!

Long Weekender Report: 10.03 to 13.03

Yep, it was a long one for me. I cashed in 2 off days that I had to take before end of fiscal. I love 4 day weeks. All weeks should be like that. Makes it a little more civilized! Dontcha think?

THU
Class, bad weather, got my exam back, happy with the grade I got. chilled and missed Harold & Maude at Trish's fearing that Bea Arthure would show up in it. Watched Horloge Biologique with my cutie instead. Was a great film.

FRI
Cinthia and MJ showed up in the evening. We hung out at my place and played a little Tetris Attack on the XBMC. I am still the Tetris Attack King!! So far, the following folks have fallen atmy feet: The Cinful One, Claude, MJ and just yesterday, my cousin Mel. I rule!!

I also finally got that Angel puppet replica in the mail. I ordered it back in August!! It's a replica of the muppet rendition of Angel (from Buffy/Angel fame). They replicated his muppet state from the episode SmileTime - the funniest Buffy/Angel episode ever!! Neat collectible as it is limited to 5000 worldwide. To celebrate this arrival, we watched the episode before going to bed.

SAT
Woke-up and we headed to the market for some shopping. Our big plan was to buy everything we needed for a chinese fondue. We got everything after a little running around. Weather was incredible! We went back to mu place and had a nice romantice candlelit chinese fondue dinner.

Artoo's Fondue Rant
Have I ever mentioned how - although I like fondues very much - I find that a fondue is a meal that one should never serve when guests come over. When I go over to someone's place, I go there to be invited, not make my own meal! Think about it, you invite people over and then make them cook their food! They have to wait for it to cook, fight for their little fondue spears because there are just so many of them, then you have something like a zillion little sauce bowls to wash. Nahhhhh! not worth it!

SUN
We went to bed wayyyyyyy to late last night and drank a little too much wine and desert apple cider. A very slow day! Watched a little Smallville, went to the gricery store and played a little DS. Not the most productive day in the history of the world. I did make another victim at Tetris Attack though. My cousin Mel did her best but was just no match with the Tetris Attack king! (she did beat me at Dr. Mario though!)


MON
Cold and wet weather today - Decided to go out anyways and hit the SouthKeys area.

I picked up Season 2 of the Adventures of Superman. I finished Season 1 last night with the last disk - It was the flick Superman and the Mole Men. I must say that I have really enjoyed these episodes - as I pointed out a few weeks back. It's definately not for everyone. It's a different pace and not as sci-fi as all the other Superman shows out there. You have to see beyond the special effects as they are quite crude (heck, it was made in the early 50's).

Value Village Finds
I walked into Value Village and bought myself the game Ouija (it was a cheap $3.99) I love going to thrift places like that. I always find something of interest. The saying: "One man's garbage, another man's treasure!" often rings true to my ear. I also found the fist Harry Potter book in hardcover form for $1.99. I've been meaning to pick up a copy for a long time. Never been high on my list though but at that price. A steal! Definately - the best place - to buy boardgames!!

Althought still reeling from the shock of Jose Theodore being traded away, I am about to watch a little hockey then most likely some TVShow on DVD before bed.

All in all a good long w-e.

After-though: OUIJA

Small after-thought from my previous post. Do people actually believe what happens when they play Ouija? I vaguely recall crazy stories from Carley and Chantale... or was it Mel? I know some folks have told me stories about stange things happening a while back.

I can't say i've ever played the game so I have no opinion about it.

2006 CD Discovery #8 - Pink Martini: Hang on Little Tomato

Artist: Pink Martini
Album: Hang on Little Tomato

The skinny: Hang on Little Tomato, Pink Martini’s long-awaited second album, features mostly original songs written by the band and its extended family. Drawing on themes articulated in its first album, Hang on Little Tomato is the result of the group's diverse collaborations and inspirations. From an advertisement for Hunt’s Ketchup from a 1964 issue of LIFE magazine to a dance sequence in the 1950 Italian film Anna, Hang on Little Tomato includes songs in French, Italian, Japanese, Croatian, Spanish and English. Awsome mood music for a cocktail party or dinner event. 7.5/10

Favorite song: Anna

7 Days to Coldplay baby!!

The Twisted Logic tour is about to head to Ottawa. That's right, next Friday, some of us are headed to the Scotiabank Place to see Coldplay! The quartet is back to support their latest album, X&Y... and what an album it is. Should be sweet.

Opening act is Richard Ashcroft. I'll give is recent album a listen this week. I can't say i've followed what he's done since his Verve days.

X&Y is a big album in every sense of the word, with huge songs that build to a massive, layered soundscapes. My hope is that it translates well on stage in an arena show!

Can't wait!!

2006 CD Discovery #7 - Tortured Soul: Introducing

Artist: Tortured Soul
Album: Introducing Tortured Soul

The Skinny: I picked up this CD last summer after seeng this band at the International Jazz Festival in Montral. Although not a real discovery of 2006, I find myself coning back to this cd on a regular basis so I thought I would share this with you.

What kind of muzic? Imagine groovy jazzy happy tunes with lots of soul. This trio comes to us from the Bronx in NYC. They have been doing the festival circuits for the last year or two around the world. If they ever come back in this neck of the wood, i'll be there - for sure. It's hard to link them with other bands.. Ever heard Tower of Power music? Some obvious fusion jazz influence in there... other than that, it's simply pure grooves.

Fav tunes are Don't hold me down, "I might do something wrong" and the amazing "Enjoy it now".

Thus unknown musician had this to say about them: 'Don't Hold Me Down' sounds like a happy track I'd wake up to on a Saturday morning when sun is coming through the window. I like the Roy Ayers feeling to it." [Lenny Kravitz, Vibe Magazine, Jan '05]

A great mood setter for those chillin' get togethers. Pure groove and cool melodies!

Just a bit off the mark

I got my midterm exam result tonight... Actually, i got it last week and was puzzled about a few marks on my copy as I had the right answers yet not full marks. The TA made a few mistakes. I gave it back to the prof for a review and got it back tonight.

I was right.. instead of 29/40, my grade should have been 35/40... just a little bit off. Yay for me. This thing is worth 40% of the final grade.

follow-up to Mame iPod Nano post

I posted a short blurb about the Arcade Emulator working on an iPod namo yesterday. here is a funny little cab image to close the loop.

Mini DVD Movie Reveiw: 36, Quai des Orfèvres

Good cop, bad cop flick from France. I was hoping much more frmo this film. the ovner of Invisible Cinema recommended it as one of the best cop flicks of recent years. Didn't quite do it for me. It's not a bad film but not a masterpiece. 6.6/10

Mini DVD Movie Reveiw: Horloge Biologique

What a great film. Original, funny and thought provoquing. It's about a bunch of guys who are at different stages of a relationship with a girlfriend and they all react differently to the pressures related to fatherhood. The main subject is unfaithfulness. The story presents it though 4 different points of views. It's sure to create interesting reactions in some of the female viewers.

The film is packed with stereotypical male behavior when it comes to dealing with relationships but it deal with the whole thing in a funny yet close to home kinda way - We all know or have known guy friends who these ways with the ladies. 8/10

Star Wars TV Show Update (Ign.com)

It's been a while since we talked about a Star Wars item - Too long... here is a great article on the future of Star Wars on TV.

"The computer-animated Star Wars series is currently in pre-production, with scripts in development and animation tests underway. That show, which is to be set during the Clone Wars, should begin airing in the fall of 2007."

"The second series, a live-action show, will be composed of one-hour episodes, with 100 hours of story initially charted. The story takes place after Revenge of the Sith but before A New Hope. No timeframe for production or airing has been officially mentioned yet."

Should be sweet!

Mame on an iPod Nano!!!

I am floored! Someone has figured how to get Pac-Man and Ms.Pac-Man to run on an iPod Nano with Linux and a version of MAME.

The Rock'n'Roll Legends Review

Went to see this show called The Rock'n'Roll Legends last night at the Casino. It was quite interesting. The show started at 7:30 and lasted about an hour 15 minutes (as you can imagine, there were a lot of older folks in the audience… early start time.. early to bed - right? That's my theory anyways). For those of you who work in Youth Programs, just imagine a hoard of 50 or so Nicole Laplantes in the audience and you'll get the picture. LOL

The show started with a mix of Elvis Presley songs (An American Trilogy, Tutti Frutti) and finishing with a mix of the songs from the movie Grease (Summer Nights, We go together). We also heard songs from The Platters (My Prayer, Smoke gets in your eyes), Leslie Gore (It's my Party), Johnny Farago (Trois p'tits coups) and many more.

It was pretty cool, with a live band in the back and some great dancers, the whole thing flew by. I didn't care much for the 60s french portion (Jeunesse d'aujourd'hui) as it was primarily translated cover versions of classics 50s songs.
My main complaint would be that with shows like these are like these Rock'n'Roll CD compilations, you always hear the same bits of these songs. I hate this. If you do a rendition of Johnny B Good, do it all, not just 6 bars of it. It's a short song for crying out loud!

All in all, we had a good time. We got the free tickets from Cinthia's Parents couldn't go as they are down south right now. Free is always good!

Superman's wife dies

Dana Reeve, who became a champion of spinal cord injury research after the death of her husband, actor Christopher Reeve, has died from lung cancer. She was 44.

The couple started the paralysis research organization after Christopher Reeve, best known for his portrayal of Superman, became a quadriplegic after falling from a horse in 1995.

If you ever want to read an awe inspiring book, read Christopher Reeve's Bio. It's amazing.

Of course, you surf the Web? Do yourself a favour!

Alot of you know this already - but I know some don't.

Experience of surfing on internet explorer and mozilla firefox is not same. Internet surfing on firefox is much much better thatthat on Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE).

I fell on this really good article today on CNet. The subject: Internet Web browsers. I thought I would share it with you all. It compared the 6 top browsers. Firefox came out on top. Another neat article on the subject compared IE and Firefox alone.

Some reasons that one should use Firefox instead of IE:

• Better Security : Its offer better security and protect from malicious spyware
• Pop-up Blocking : Block annoying pop-up ads
• Google Toolbar : Enhanced search box suggests queries as you type
• the fact that Firefox is not affiliated in any way with Microsoft
• Tabbed Browsing : Its saves time by viewing more than one page ina single window
• Lots of neat plugins and extentions (local weather in the status bar is a cool one).
• And the best part is that it is free.

Do yourself a favour and try it. You can get it for free at this site!

Weekender Report: 03-03 to 05-05

Another day, and another 24 hour passes! Another week-end, another Weekender Report full of little cool moments to share.

Friday
Took day off from work. Spent day reading mostly. Most of it on the computer though. I don't know what it is but it seems as though we don't see reading on the Web the same way we see reading a book. I was listening to a TV show the other day and the parents were telling their kid to stop being on the computer and do something else. That is a little odd to me because very rarely in time have we seen parents tell their kid to stop reading a book. It would seem to me that reading is reading. Mind you the kid could have been playing games or chatting with friends but still. The times they are a changin'!

The "Best Girlfriend in the World"!
I made a nice dinner for Cinthia, who had said for the last week and a half that she had a surprise for me on Friday night? Now, I can't go into details as to what kind of surprise ideas went though my head. I had no idea what she was talking about. All I knew was that it involved the Casino. To be honest, I though she was bringing me to a play or something. Seriousely. To make a long story short, we got there and the next clue I got was that there might a relation with Easter? With Easter?! Eggs? Chocolate? The Easter Bunny? Whaaa?

We got there, took off our coats and proceeded through the casino. Well that last guess was as close as I would get as she had brought me there to have my picture taken with a Playboy Playmate (we met Miss September 2002) . It was a free polaroid picture with an autograph and dedication note. How cool is that?? This is of course so Playboy Room worthy. What else can I say but to say that my girlfriend rocks! Love you baby!

We then headed out to Trim road and to Casa del Palmer. Claude, Sylvie, Duncan, Trish, Joe and Véro were already at Ryan's. A great time was had by all. Some highlights:

• Duncan shivering underneath a blanket
  Guys beating the ladies at a strange miming game orchestrated by véro and Sylvie.
• Cinthia guessing correctly this mime about a girl massaging her breasts with peanut butter. (don't ask, you had to be there!)
• Star Wars Holiday Special and Turkish Star Wars (why did we do this to ourselves?)
• Ryan's cool recorning equipment.

My favorite bit of the evening: Duncan miming a Star Destroyer and a Death Star (Priceless!!!!!)

Saturday
A quiet day like I like them We took a long walk in Hull. We hit a few stores. My used book/record/pawn shop finds: an XBox remote for $12, a great Blake and Mortimer book for $10, 3 DVD sets for $12 (including two screeners that were given to Emmy voters last year (nice collectible) .

Claude dropped by in the evening. We watched a little hockey (Sens and Habs both won!). We then fired up the XBox and played a little Shaolin Mortal Kombat as then over 2 hours of Tetris Attack (read previous post to learn how evil this game is!)

Sunday
Some more XBox scripting research and reading, some kitchen cleaning and a few Smallville Eps.

I'm still feeling a little under the weather as I write this though but all in all it was a very good w-e! Hope you have a great one also.

Addictive you say??

Okay, here is the the story: Last Wednesday, Cinthia and I decided to give some of the retro emlators on my XBox a try. Of course, we turned to a few games of Tetris to start things off.

We decided to try out a Tetris variant called Tetris Attack. This is an old game that came out of the Super Nintendo era. We both had never heard of it. We launched it and played... then we played, and played, and played. This has to be one of the most addictive 2 player "vs." mode ever!! The reason? Simplicity. You get better very quickly and when you lose, you know you had a chance to win it. You both get the same board to start with and it's by the compinations that you play that you change your board. you can play consevative, aggressive, it all works... until you get real good at it. then the real fun begins and you have to play for the kill. This little game simply rocks.we simply couldn't stop playing. You simply cannot get tired of this game.

Fast forward to Saturday night. Claude was over. We watched a some hockey, then played some MK: Shaolin Monks and then I showed him this little game at around 11:30 or so - thinking we would play a few games and move on. Well, we were hooked and played until 1:45 in the morning. This game is truly the devil reincarnated.

Do yourself a favour and get an SNES emulator and try this out with someone (the game is much, much better against someone).

XBMC: Thumbs Up, Way Up!

After a week or so and way too many hours playing and customizing the XBox Media Center, I have to say that this is the niftiest mod job i've ever seen to a console.

I've managed to set the box to interact with all the computers on the network (with a little help from friends of course - thanks Matt!).

• I added some custom icons for the Retro Emulators and XBox games (they look so sweet now!).
• Today, I was able to figure out how to add scripts and where to find them (Streaming Internet Radio was the only one which was working when I got the machine). I added a dozen or so good streaming apps to it. It just keeps getting better and better.

Over the w-e, I tested out a few of the Retro Gaming Emulators and they are so much more fun with XBox controllers than they were with a keyboard and mouse - Just doesn't compare. Not as fun as the Pac-Man cabinet though (come-on... nothing compares to that!) :)

All in all, I am quite satisfied with my upgrade. $50 for a soft mod and then $70 for a new 80GB hard Drive... Oh and on Saturday, i was able to find an XBox remore for $15 tax included. It's definately the way to go. i can't say that I will be soing that much XBox gaming on it but to have the ability to copy games is definately a plus. I intend on using it more for watching movies and TV shows on it as it's much better than havingthe PC on all the time.

Retro Mini-Movie Review: Moscow on the Hudson

Early 1984 Robin Williams film about a russian musician who decides to defect to the United-States while on a trip to New-York with a circus from the USSR. Review: A little dated, yet still has some charm. Robin Williams is surprisingly subdued in his acting. When you think back and remember when this was shot (early 80s), seeing Williams give a quiet, thoughtful performance just shows you how good of an actor he would become. I give this a 6.5/10.

Top 10 80s Wrestlers (askmen.com)

I just read that in 2 weeks they will be bringing back a show I used to watch as a kid. I don't know if it will be for only this once, but they will be a Saturday Night's Main Event on March 18th at 8pm on NBC. As a tribute to this old show coming back to TV (even if just for on show), I present to you all this top 10 list of 80s Wrestlers which was posted on askmen.com. I doubt this tv show will be able to capture much of what wrestling was in the 80s but heck, itès worth a peek for nostalgia's sake.

More than during any other time period, wrestling in the 1980s was special. After all, this was when people still believed it to be real and when, because of this, wrestlers were able to really captivate people. Appealing to the kids in everyone, wrestling worked as a sort of fairy tale, a character-driven soap opera for men with clear-cut good guys and bad guys.

Top 10 80s Wrestlers (askmen.com)

Guess the Nintendo Screenshot!

I posted a screenshot of a mystery Nintendo Entertainment System game over at The Video Arcade. Letès see who knows their old-school gaming! :) Hint: this game was also a popular game on the PC.

What was your favorite toy as a child?

I present to you today a nifty little site called X-entertainment. The site contains a cool collection of 80s toy commercials which you can view online or download. They also produce articles which review 80s toys, print adds and television commercials (vintage commercials of 80s miscellania).

Whilst perusing through their library, I came to realize just how many of these toys I had forgotten about. Of course, most of us remembers G.I. Joe, Transformers, Barbie, Star Wars, He-Man/She-Ra, Thundercats, Straberry Shortcake or the Smurfs; but do you remember: MUSCLE, MASK, Stretch Armstrong, Voltrons, Centurions, Cricket, Pound Puppies, Photons or the Snorks. Have a peek at some of these commercials - you'll be surprised how some of these come back to ya. I'm sure these toys were part of some of your lives. So what were you, were you a Lego Maniac like Zac? Or were you a Ghostbuster that got slimed?

For me, I would have to say that I went through five main toy phases as a kid - all of them pretty much revolving around action figures: Star Wars, G.I. Joe, He-Man and Transformers. Through all of this, LEGOs were always present (a classic that will live on forever in my book). I'll betcha if I pulled out my old box of LEGOs today and sat down with a kid, i'd have as much fun as he would playing with them.

My first action figure was actually a C-3P0 from the Star Wars Kenner toy line. I know, it's an off choice but you have to remember I was about 4 or 5 when I saw Star Wars for the first time. I remember picking him out at Sears in Hull. I must have had 30 or 40 of these SW figures at one point.

I grew into GI Joes because they had cooler accessories and had better joints. You could simulate fights and gestures much better with them. The vehicles were cool too - more realistic and better details. One could go out in the yard and play in a real forest with them. The ultimate secret Cobra Bases.

I think I discovered He-Man through the cartoon. I don't remember any of my friends having any of them. My cousins had figures but I think it was through the shows as well as this cool Castle Greyskull commercial that I ended up wanting in on these (marketing at it's best eh?).

My final action figure stint was in support of a cartoon fix. Transformers were simply the bomb! The details, the engeneering, the cool cars... there were simply awsome... and no doubt about it... they were much much cooler than Go Bots.

If I had to choose but one of these toy lines as my favorites, I would have to pick my LEGOs, for the simple reason that you could never really get tired of them. Heck, I still hold on to them for my future kids.

So there you have it, my little trek through the 80s toy universe.

Sick day!

Artoo is sick and stuck at home today. No mindless entertaining posts will be made.