QUOTE OF THE DAY : "The Liberals are the flying saucers of politics. No one can make head nor tail of them and they never are seen twice in the same place." - John Diefenbaker

SONG OF THE DAY : Chemical Brothers Feat. Q-Tip - Galvanize

LINK OF THE DAY : How to eat Sushi.

Set honour in one eye and death i' the other,
And I will look on both indifferently.

This tsunami catastrophe is unreal. Word is the number killed or missing will rise to over 100,000 people. That doesn't include the impoverished survivors who will die from disease and dehydration.

But of course what's the first thing I see on CNN.com today. Celebrities Survive Tsunami! Thousands of non-Americans are dead, and what's the first thing they report today... OH ARE OUR PRECIOUS CELEBRITIES ALRIGHT!

Every loss of life in this horrible disaster is a tragedy unto itself, and just part of the already staggering death toll. I feel sorry for everyone hurt, injured or killed in this, but I'm not praying for some celebrity... I'm hoping everyone comes out okay.

I'm glad Jet Li is okay, I'm hoping that Supermodel Petra Nemcova recovers from her serious injuries, my heart goes out to the family of Richard Attenborough... But the scale of this human tragedy is just too big to care WHO these people are. The fact of the matter is : they ARE people, and thousands of them are dead or missing.

This whole thing is just unreal.

Now I'm going to sound like a jack ass for even mentioning a few extra things.

New banner up top in case you can't see.

Also check out the link of the day : How to eat Sushi. I only had sushi 3 times this year, compared to 40 or so times the year before, I'm in need of a good feed.

Hungry for sushi, and depressed about this whole tsunami thing.

Ways to help with the tsunami relief.

- Will
   Wednesday, December 29, 2004

  QUOTE OF THE DAY : "I cannot believe in a God who wants to be praised all the time." - Friedrich Nietzsche

SONG OF THE DAY : The Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatry

LINK OF THE DAY : Say what you will... I'm looking forward to this movie.

The bay-trees in our country are all wither'd
And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven;
The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth
And lean-look'd prophets whisper fearful change.


Jim aimed, and with one well placed shot, it was all over.

Do you remember the time in your life when you were positive Santa was real? There was absolutely no doubt in your mind that he lived at the North Pole, and came calling each Christmas with presents for you. Ah childhood, good times.

Then you got older, and came to realize that your parents had been lying to you about Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy and Snagglepuss, for most of your life up to that point.

In case there was any doubt left in your mind as to Santa Claus's existence... Here are eight reasons why Santa Claus cannot or wouldn't exist for long if he were actually real.

8. The real Saint Nicholas died almost two thousand years ago.

7. Santa Claus is immortal. However, morbid obesity sadly tends to preclude a
long life.

6. The North Pole is just ice. No magic toy kingdom up there.

5. In order to reach his gift quotas, Santa's Elves would have to work in sweat
shop like conditions 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

4. No species of hoofed animal can fly.

3. Not everyone has a chimney... Magic be damned!

2. PHYSICS: An eminent physicist from the U.S. is quick to point out the following.

Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second -- that is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000 of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, hop back up the chimney, retrieve the sleigh, and move on to the next house.

Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, is false but we will accept for our calculations), we are now talking about 0.78 miles per household, a total trip of 75.5 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding and etc. This means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, or 3000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-made vehicle (the Ulysses space probe) moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second. A conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour.

1. Gun-toting rednecks would invariably make some sort of bet involving beer, the winner being the first man to bag himself Santa Claus.

Show this to your child when they come to the realization that Santa Claus is a sham.
The proof is in the pudding.


In other news, I just watched The Godfather "Uncut and Uncensored" on Spike TV. They have a strange slant on what exactly qualifies as "Uncut and Uncensored". All the violence was there, but they cut out the "bad" words and nudity.

I think this is a reflection of the American ethos right now. Violence is somehow acceptable... Yet so-called bad words, and tasteful nudity from a movie made over 30 years ago is bad. It was uncut, but they dubbed the language and actually mosaic censored the nudity. I guess two guys enjoying a meal in a restaurant getting their brains shot out at point blank range is acceptable for TV. And Sonny Corleone being riddled with thousands of bullets at a toll booth is perfectly fine.

But a 4 letter word, and a pair of breasts... RUN FOR THE HILLS BOYS!

I don't get it.

- Will   Wednesday, December 22, 2004

  QUOTE OF THE DAY : "Since a politician never believes what he says, he is quite surprised to be taken at his word." - Charles de Gaulle

SONG OF THE DAY : Del Tha Funkee Homosapien - Dr. Bombay

LINK OF THE DAY : Stephen Taylor : Pundit Extraordinaire

But, alack,
That monster envy, oft the wrack
Of earned praise.

The Phantom of the Opera
7/10 STARS


"There is a hideous freak behind you Christine!"

Film musicals have enjoyed a resurgence in recent years, the success of 2002's Chicago is largely responsible for the renewed interest in the genre. The Phantom of the Opera is director Joel Schumacher's adaptation of Andrew Llyod Webber's hugely successful stage production of the same name. In this classic tale, the Paris Opera House is being haunted by a disfigured, musical genius known only as the Phantom(Gerard Butler). Christine Daae(Emmy Rossum) is a young chorus girl at the Opera House, who has been learning to sing under the tutelage of the Phantom. He secretly loves Christine, but his disfigurement prevents him from revealing himself to her. Much to the chagrin of the Phantom, the Opera's patron Raoul begins making romantic overtures towards Christine. The Phantom begins terrorizing the Opera House demanding that Christine be given bigger and bigger roles in the opera productions. When the Opera house does not concede to his demands, the Phantom steals Christine away to his lair in the sewers beneath the Opera House, with Raoul in hot pursuit.

I can only recommend The Phantom of the Opera to fans of the original musical, or fans of musicals in general. That being said the film is excellent at what it is. It retains all of the music and spectacle of the original stage production, while adding all the bells and whistles that a movie adaptation entails. The film is beautiful to look at, and it was obvious that a lot of care and effort went into the production. The chandelier scene alone is worth the price of admission. Performance-wise most of the cast was great. Emmy Rossum, (Who apparently can sing.) is beautiful as Christine, and shines in the role. The stand out performance was given by Gerard Butler as the Phantom. While his singing voice is not ideal for the role, Butler gives a great all-around performance, as a tortured genius who just wants to be loved.

The film is long, nearly two and a half hours. Though it has excellent pacing in certain scenes, it really dragged in parts. It is a difficult task adapting a musical for the big screen, there are some things that work on stage, that don't necessarily work all that well on film, in particular the sewer scenes, and the phantom's lair. The singing seemed to begin very randomly in parts, and actually felt out of place in a few scenes. The cast overall was fairly solid, but there were a few wooden performances. Schumacher seems swept up in the vision of the film, but does not pay enough attention to the end result.

I'm no fan of musicals, but The Phantom of the Opera is an exception for me. The choice of director had me worried at first. I honestly didn't know what to expect from this movie, but Joel "I Ruined Batman" Schumacher came through this time. The Phantom of the Opera is quite enjoyable and incredibly well presented. However the length of the film, combined with the fact that it is a musical will limit it's appeal.

- Will   Monday, December 20, 2004

  QUOTE OF THE DAY : "I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me." - Winston Churchill

SONG OF THE DAY : The Stills - Of Montreal

LINK OF THE DAY : Gamespot's Best of 2004 Awards

Here feel we but the penalty of Adam,
The seasons' difference, as the icy fang
And churlish chiding of the winter's wind,
Which, when it bites and blows upon my body,
Even till I shrink with cold, I smile.


My buddy Matt, Nug and myself at the Toronto FARK party on Saturday night.

There is no such thing as too much fun, but too much beer is a definite reality. I may have had 2 or 3 pitchers too many, and I'm certainly paying for it today, but it was a FARK party, and my friend's last weekend in Toronto, so why the hell not?

The Minnesota Wrecking Crew killed at Second City. The crew featuring Nug pictured above,(AKA: Everybody's favourite FARK cliche Mustard Man and all around cool guy.) put on an awesome show, everyone really enjoyed it.

Great to finally met fellow Farkers in person, awesome group of people. Thanks for the picture Christie. Hope to see you all again soon... Less beer next time... Though that's not very likely.


Farkers at the BBQ Hut in Chinatown at 4 AM.

I'm sick and slightly hungover...
What a great combo!

- Will   Sunday, December 19, 2004

  QUOTE OF THE DAY : "Rather fail with honour than succeed by fraud" - Sophocles

SONG OF THE DAY : DJ Shadow - Blood on the Motorway

LINK OF THE DAY : OWNED!

Thus far, with rough and all-unable pen,
Our bending author hath pursued the story,
In little room confining mighty men,
Mangling by starts the full course of their glory.


I'd give money to homeless people if they all had hilarious signs like this.

Fun times! Computer troubles are abound! Reformatting is always my favourite weekend activity. Now I am just trying to rebuild my system, and get everything back up to into top shape.

Happy Birthday Dad! Met up with my dad for lunch, he is 4X years old, getting up there.

I Spent the rest of the day shopping for Christmas. Shopping sucks, especially during the Christmas rush. Eaton Centre was a zoo. It was a good time though, only because I was with some friends.


Robots are cool, but you knew that. I hope to one day own one, or several. Today Honda unveiled their next generation Asimo robot. Look at that little bastard go!


Prime Minister John Turner

Apparently this guy was Prime Minister of Canada, news to me. John Turner was PM for about 3 months in 1984, after Trudeau and before Mulroney. Never has the word OWNED seemed more appropriate.

I'm still debating whether or not I'll go to this FARK party at Second City this weekend. Beer AND Mustard Man? I think I'm going to go.

I believe that will be all.

- Will   Tuesday, December 14, 2004

  QUOTE OF THE DAY : "People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them." - James A. Baldwin

SONG OF THE DAY : K-Os - Papercutz

LINK OF THE DAY : If True, Canadians Should Be Concerned.

We must not make a scarecrow of the law,
Setting it up to fear the birds of prey,
And let it keep one shape, till custom make it
Their perch and not their terror.

Rediscovering the Art of the Shovel and Other Ramblings



Dear first week of December 2004,

Why couldn't you be like first week of December 2003. Gone are the warm streets of Southern Italy and Sicily. Absent is the country side of France zooming by at 120 kilometres per hour. Instead, I am given the chilly overcast that is Toronto this time of year. Then there is the snow. Alas Autumn, we hardly knew thee.

As draining as a 48 hour train ride from Palermo to Paris was, I would have much rather repeated that trip than spending the same 48 hours studying for a history exam. All the while the internet sits there mocking me as I miss out on crazy, inane crap.

I should have expected the snow though, such is Canada. I also should have expected the shovelling it would no doubt entail. You'll pay December 1st to 7th, and you internet as well... As for you... Snow, you'll get what's coming to you.

Sincerely
Will

Now that we've got that out the way onto some random crap.

I broke the 40,000 hits mark. Hooray, but again I pose the question: Who the hell reads this crap? Thanks though. If you visit the site by all means comment. Feedback is always appreciated, be it positive or negative. *Looks at Robotman*

As a proud Canadian I found the above article incredibly troubling if it's the true. Too many Canadians take what we have here for granted, and I for one would rather die than see Canada become an obsolete "protectorate" of the United States. I don't hate the US, or Americans, but I'm Canadian and intend to stay that way. Value what we have here and fight for it if need be.

I'm enjoying the hell out of the new K-Os album Joyful Rebellion. That guy is a musical genius and I'm so glad he's a fellow Canadian. Keep up the good work dude. I highly recommend checking out some of his stuff, I promise it won't disappoint.

I really miss hockey. Come back Leafs... Come back!

In other news, Toronto kicks ass. The more time I spend in the city, and learn about the history, the more faith I have in the future of this great metropolis. Bright times are of us, enjoy the ride.

Well that's enough randomness, I'll leave you with a really cool picture from the movie Alien Vs. Predator.



THE LA LI LU LE LO!?

- Will
   Monday, December 06, 2004