overrated

its how conan started

2009-10-23T07:00:00.000-04:00

actually thats not quite right. conan o'brien was a writer for saturday night live first, so this should actually be titled, it's what conan did after snl.

the simpsons, beloved tv favourite of the masses, is doing a little crowdsourcing. they are offering up an opportunity for you, yes you, to create your own simpsons character. go take a look, fill out the form and you will have the chance to be flown to los angeles to put the finishing touches on your creation.

the site says that they plan to air the episode in january 10, 2010 so better get over there.

the new search?

2009-10-22T06:00:00.001-04:00

so, wouldn't it be interesting if you could do a search and the engine generated a bulletin-board styled page with clips of articles, video, webpages and text and arranged them on the page according to relevance? and then when you clicked on something, it would enlarge to show you more before taking you to the page?

seems you can. check out spezify.

takes a bit to get used to but definitely has potential.

burn bunny burn

2009-10-21T06:00:00.001-04:00

hmm, so bunny carcasses made a decent fuel. who knew?

it turns out that stockholm, sweden is overrun with wild rabbits. to the point that they contract out to companies to cull the herd. six thousand were killed last year and (as of the article) 3,000 this year. and the general public seemed to be ok with it.

but whats now turned some heads, is that the company contracted to perform these cleanups, have decided that the best way to dispose of the bodies is to burn them to fuel a heating plant.

apparently they have the same energy content as normal heating oil.

here is one of the first articles on it (i think), read through the comments with both enlightened and not-so-enlightened opinions.

simulates the warmth of a tauntaun carcass

2009-10-20T06:00:00.000-04:00

after a couple emails back and forth between myself and a couple of other star wars geeks (which actually started off as a transformers thread [yes, i really am that geeky]), i was sent a link to a sleeping bag built to resemble a tauntaun carcass.

i want one.

badly

the joy of sketch

2009-10-19T21:42:00.003-04:00

spend anytime around me at all and i guarantee, we will have a conversation about the death of creative thought.

many of my hours are spent as a designer. at work, at home, at play, its what i do. so its stands to reason that i spend time thinking about design. a lot of time. and the best way to get any (preferably all) of these ideas down is to sketch them. a sketchbook is of primary importance to me. at any given time, i have one at work, one at home and one available within arms reach. though any paper i can scribble on will do in a pinch. it then simply gets stapled into my current sketchbook for later use.

having said all this, there is a growing number of those in the creative field that reject the notion of sketching. they simply turn on a computer and output ideas from there.

dear god.

anyway, i have long maintained that this is not a good trend, and honestly, i hope its not a growing trend, but, if i have to relent at some level (and i won't), could those who refuse to use paper, maybe take a look at odosketch? it won't replace paper, but at least its imperfect and allows for exploration. and its kind of cool to play around in.

please?

hugh hefner

2009-06-23T06:00:00.001-04:00

a really cool article on the founder of playboy.

i was never sold on the hyper-reality that is hugh hefner. it always seemed a little too much. and he seemed like a perv.

how many other guys that age (or any age) could surround himself with beautiful women and have his whole identity so carefully crafted around such women, and not be considered a creepy old guy? well, hugh can.

predicated on the idea that he arranged for their ultimate lifestyle because they took their clothes off for a camera, hugh's life takes on a greater-than-it-should meaning. yeah, he created an empire from it, but if anyone else tried it, they would probably be in jail

i think he did it at the right time, and he (initially) maintained the right image. that era and those girls? perfect. wholesome, cute and active (how many girls are there that like long walks and running on the beach?) in an era where sexual experience was starting to blossom publicly? just good timing really.

this article is half book review for The Complete Centrefolds, a coffee-table book and half history lesson and makes for some great reading. make sure to check it out.

wow, finally, an innovative use of pixels

2009-06-22T08:01:00.001-04:00

seriously, just try to not spend hours on this. oh, as a warning, only click on this is you A) have time to waste, B) are not offended easily by ralph bakshi-styled drawings or C) don't mind pulling large metal objects out of a crudely drawn animals ass. seriously.

but its still the most innovative thing i have seen a website used for in a long long time.

enjoy

the vader project

2009-06-21T23:33:00.003-04:00

Celebration 187
Originally uploaded by swguru2004.

i really would have loved to been able to go to this.

The Vader Project - a reimagining of the iconic Darth Vader helmet by some of today's hottest underground and pop surrealist painters, artists and designers

here is the website and here is a flickr set

go ahead, cuss a blue streak in front of the kids

2009-06-21T22:55:00.003-04:00

great article about the significance that kids attach to swear words when they are exposed to them as compared to not hearing them until their older. read it here, then go swear at a child. they'll thank you when they grow up.

if taglines were honest

2009-06-21T09:30:00.002-04:00

this was done a couple years back (2007) but its still hilarious. i always appreciate truth in advertising so its good to see someone step up and gives a few ideas of what some corporations should be saying about their products.

my favourite?
Taco Bell: You're drunk and we're still open.

See the whole list here

noodling

2009-06-20T22:58:00.001-04:00

ever hear of catfish noodling?

the video below will bring you up to date. cribbed from boing boing

jesse ventura on dick cheney

2009-06-20T22:44:00.002-04:00

no, not like that.

i love jesse. do i agree with everything he says? no. but let's be honest, i don't think i agree with most people on most things. but this larry king interview gave us some great quotes.

George Bush is the worst president in my lifetime.

I have no respect for Dick Cheney.

...you give me a water board, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I'll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders.

beautiful.

dinosaurs and robots

2009-03-05T21:24:00.003-05:00

i found this site just now, through a post on boing boing i believe, and they will now be on my included on my links list to the right.

dinosaurs and robots has a very historic bent to it. gorgeous old packaging, a self-camouflaging tree-house and an entire miniature city built from sugar. egads.

i am positive that hours will be spent on this site.

i guess it makes sense that crotch crescent is just south of titty ho?

2009-02-18T22:09:00.002-05:00

heh, butt hole road. thats funny.

i remember working for a home builder and sitting down one day to name all the roads in a new subdivision, something i normally did not get to sit in on. i don't know if they were just feeling giddy that day or what, but we had a blast going through all the town names in england, ireland and scotland and mapping out the whole subdivision with names like the one in the above article. too funny.

our world may be a giant hologram

2009-01-23T07:53:00.003-05:00

i am not a bright lad. so explaining this article is a bit of a struggle for me. so i will steal a quote out of it to go with the headline.

Our everyday experience might itself be a holographic projection of physical processes that take place on a distant, 2D surface.

hmmm. read the article here

get your giant map here

2009-01-18T07:37:00.004-05:00

the entire earth at 84,000 pixels tall and 168,000 pixels across. thats what you get when you download the large version of a map of the earth from unearthed outdoors. they have made this free 32-tile map available under a creative commons attribution 3.0 license. each square is 21,000 pixels square and available as a png or geotif. they have smaller images available but who needs them when you have a 600dpi map of the earth thats 24 feet long?

via boing boing

short history of video games

2009-01-17T19:49:00.003-05:00

saw this on core77. it brought back a ton of memories. it specifically mentions the et game from atari and its effect on the industry. i remember the game sucking out loud but did not realize to what extent but if you want to know what extent, read the wikipedia page. interesting. anyways, a cool watch.

A Short Visual History of Videogames from Kyle Downes on Vimeo.

water-based glasses

2009-01-04T10:18:00.002-05:00

this could be the beginning of something huge. Josh Silver, an inventor and former professor of physics at Oxford University, has created a set of glasses capable of being mass produced that can be altered to fit a custom prescription easily. how? by adjusting the amount of water the lenses hold. this could completely overhaul eye care and as a by-product, literacy in developing countries. read about it here

via core77

The flag of equal marriage

2009-01-04T10:15:00.001-05:00

Anyone interested in supporting equal marriage, here's the protest flag, and the backstory to its creation.

etch a sketch master

2008-11-22T23:59:00.001-05:00

man, i loved playing with my etch a sketch (not a euphemism). but i was never as good as this guy.

great story

2008-11-22T22:10:00.002-05:00

the 1958 university of buffalo football team received an invite to attend the tangerine bowl. to date, the schools only bowl invite in 102 years. they turned it down. the game was being played in orlando and the orlando high school athletic association would not allow black players to play in the same game as white players (in 1958!!!) so two of the players on the buffalo team would not be allowed to play. so the team told them to go to hell. read the story here

god's facebook status

2008-11-14T23:35:00.001-05:00

ever sit around and wonder, "what if god had a facebook page? i wonder what his status updates would be?"

wonder no more.

is graphic design art?

2008-11-13T22:29:00.000-05:00

so? what do you think?

al jaffee - master of the fold-in

2008-11-13T22:19:00.002-05:00

you've read mad magazine, i know you have. and as you read it while standing at the magazine rack in that crappy little store, you glanced at the back, saw the illustration, so wonderfully hand-drawn, took a quick look around the store and then folded the pages over to see what the hidden image was. then you had a chuckle and put the magazine back on the rack, careful to hide the folded up back page.

well, al jaffee was the guy who drew that image (and every hidden image mad magazine has every printed, since 1964) and the new york times did an article on him.

photos of hiroshima

2008-11-11T11:16:00.003-05:00

imagine walking down the street one night and seeing an old suitcase someone has put out for garbage pickup. being a collector of found-objects, you pick up the suitcase, pop it open and find photos of hiroshima one month after the bomb dropped. fascinating story, found here

nanowrimo

2008-11-11T11:11:00.001-05:00

once again, i completely missed this. every year, national novel writing month is something i really would like to try, and every year, i either forget, procrastinate or give up on it. hmm, next year i guess?

help tammy help haiti

2008-11-11T11:07:00.004-05:00

a girl i went to high school with, haven't seen since but have recently been able to say hi to (thanks facebook and hi tammy) is trying to make a difference in the world. anyone who can help, can read about what she is doing and donate here.

electoral maps and why they are called red and blue states

2008-11-06T20:02:00.006-05:00

a couple of american political tidbits for you.

this link takes you to a site where they have mapped out the electoral votes of every us election since george washington dramatically carried 8 of 10 states and john adams (who carried the other 2) became the vp. actually, if you look at it, the loser of the first three elections became the vice president. hmm, that could be interesting if they still carried on that particular tradition.

i also read a note on uniwatch from josh starr who relates a story about how the republicans became the red states and the democrats became the blue states. i will repost the note in its entirety as its in the middle of a lengthly post over there. please, no one get mad.

I was a polling analyst for Mark Penn and Doug Schoen in 1995, when we were brought in by Dick Morris and Bill Clinton to do the polling for Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign.

In 1995 and 1996, there were private weekly meetings (Wednesday nights) held in the White House residence on Wendesday nights to plan the campaign. It was a small group (Clinton, Morris, Penn, Schoen, Al Gore, Leon Panetta, Bob Squier, Bill Knapp, George Stephenopolous, maybe a few others). These meetings were later detailed, I believe after the election, by The New York Times.

For each week's meeting, I would develop maps of the status of the electoral college, as well as maps of media buys and visits by the Clinton and Dole campaigns. At the time, mapping software was making it easier to create these kinds of maps. I was known as "the Map Guy."

When you sit down to develop an electoral map, you have to actively decide which colors to use. I did some research at the library (this was before the extensive online resources we have today) and found that the networks were inconsistent in their assignment of colors to the different parties, so that wasn't helpful. And the parties themselves tended to use red, white, and blue - again, no help.

So I decided to assign the Democrats blue and Republicans red. I wavered between green and yellow for "toss-ups."

After a few weeks of meetings using these maps, Mark Penn came back to my office (something he rarely did) and said something like, "Josh, they love the maps, they're a big hit. The President loves it." He then said the President had asked him why we chose these colors for the parties.

As I explained to Mark, there were several reasons. For one, the term "Blue Dog Democrats" was thrown around in the early and mid-'90s, so the association stuck with me. In addition, we were centrist Democrats and I never liked the association of our party with red communism. So I wanted to symbolically throw the red back at the Republicans. I also saw the Republicans as more angry/red in the face/out of control, since this was the era of the Newt Gingrich and the Contact with America. In addition, I associated red with a "red light" and stopping, while blue connotes something more positive and forward-thinking. All of these were reasons that went into my decision.

So that was the genesis of the color selection.

From these meetings, the shorthand vernacular turned to using the terms "red states" and "blue states" and spread from the private meetings to conversations with political professionals and the media. By 2000, these terms had been part of the DC language for years.

The funny thing is, I am a public opinion researcher and we never tested the branding impact of the colors red and blue - yet this is one decision that (unintentionally) has had long-lasting brand implications.

obama

2008-11-03T23:48:00.002-05:00

i posted this note in november of 2004.

tricky bastards

2008-11-03T21:34:00.003-05:00

a repost from 2004. careful, nasty language. starbucks, tricky bastards.

predictions circa 2004

2008-11-03T21:28:00.003-05:00

here is a previous post about the nhl playoffs and my predictions prior to them starting. in brackets is the real life results

so here goes. i needed to do this now before the games start so my pics are recorded officially.

First round islanders over tampa bay 4-2 (depietro with at least one shut out)
tampa beat the islanders 4-1. depietro did not get a shutout.

boston over montreal 4-1
montreal beat boston 4-3

new jersey over philadelphia 4-3
philly beat new jersey 4-1

toronto over ottawa 4-3
toronto did indeed beat ottawa 4-3. I RULE!!

vancouver over calgary 4-1
calgary over vancouver 4-3

san jose over st louis 4-3
san jose beat st louis 4-1

dallas over colorado 4-1
colorado over dallas 4-1

detroit over nashville 4-0
detroit over nashville 4-2

that was a pitiful prediction on the first round. suffice to say, my finals pick of vancouver and the islanders did not come true. and brad richards won the conn smythe, not my stellar pick of markus nasland.

bleh

soul searching and purchasing

2008-11-03T21:01:00.005-05:00

i had a feeling this was going to happen. as i go through all my old posts, i find a few gems here and there. so instead of linking to the originals, i will just repost here.

you know that thing you've been dragging around uselessly inside you since birth? no, not your appendix, your soul. well, cash in on that puppy now. you can do it here.

growing pains

2008-11-03T20:47:00.002-05:00

i am in the middle of what may seem to be a very long process of porting over everything on this blog to my own site. fear not, the pretty pictures address will still work, but i am editing and deleting posts with outdated links, changing the name and it seems i also have to revert to a classic template, so this may take a awhile. be patient, i'm worth it.

guy getting smoked in the head

2008-10-30T22:59:00.006-04:00

this is making the rounds now. i heard about it on the jim rome show. guy climbing a traffic light in philly after the world series win. he gets smoked by a ginormous glass bottle and well, click on the word this above.

dubai is crazy

2008-10-30T18:53:00.005-04:00

are you kidding me? if you have the money and a couple insane architects to draw it up, dubai will build it. the anara tower. 700 metres high, with apartments, shopping, offices and right in the middle is a freaking restaurant. oh, and it will conform to LEED certification requirements of at least a silver rating. jesus. read all about it here

big presidential shoes to fill

2008-10-30T18:48:00.003-04:00

obama better throw a hell of a party at the inauguration if he wants to keep up with the legends that have held the post before him. excessive drinking, fighting and one “stout black wench” according to the reports. andrew jackson really knew how to play to his base.

google book search

2008-10-30T07:42:00.003-04:00

i am still not sold on the practice of reading books on screen as opposed to the tactile sensation of actually reading a book, but this may help me in any conversion that may take place. google book search seems pretty packed as far as an online library goes. they even settled a lawsuit with "the authors guild, the association of american publishers and a handful of authors and publishers" so they can do all this legally.

freetown

2008-10-29T21:05:00.002-04:00

my buddy mike is helping humanity by working as a radio journalism trainer in freetown, the capital of sierra leone

you can keep up with his exploits here. keep up the good work mike.

the big chart

2008-10-29T19:48:00.002-04:00

brought to you by the counter intuitive comparison institute of north america. about 17 minutes long but well, well worth it. here.

23 tubes 1 bowl

2008-10-29T18:52:00.004-04:00

just what it says. a little experiment involving 23 leftover tubes of toothpaste and the resulting mixture. here.

canadian tire goes grocery

2008-10-29T18:50:00.004-04:00

seriously wtf? buying milk and bread at a canadian tire? thats not right. except the way zehrs is going, you will likely be able to buy tires there soon so i guess this is just canadian tire getting ahead in the game? yikes. read it here

mythbusters do mona lisa

2008-09-02T10:17:00.003-04:00

i am a fan of mythbusters but i have never seen this before. pretty cool to watch 1100 paint guns fire simultaneously. here.

The 5 Greatest Things Ever Accomplished While High

2008-08-24T16:06:00.002-04:00

an interesting read. here.

yousuf karsh

2008-08-20T18:35:00.003-04:00

the site, galley and bio of yousuf karsh. just stunning portraits. genius work. here

10 worst sports logos ever?

2008-08-20T18:31:00.004-04:00

enh, not sure. one persons opinion of the 10 worst sports logos ever. i think some of these are on here simply because the ability of the designer was at fault more so than the concept. the execution sucked but the idea itself wasn't bad. i might have to take a crack at this one myself someday. but until then, here you go

george carlins last interview

2008-08-20T18:18:00.002-04:00

the subject line pretty much says it all. here

where my photos go

2008-08-02T22:09:00.004-04:00

thanks to technocrati, here is a quick list of pages i (they) have found that contain photos that have been borrowed from my flickr account.

an article on the londonist

uh, i honestly don't know. probably a spam site

article on weekly changes in wikipedia, third photo down, stacy keibler from behind

article on footer design using footwear as imagery. third one down, the flip flops.

some middle school poetry site

a blog that directs you on how to get a free green ribbon. not my photo actually, i am in the photo though.

stop motion tron

2008-03-30T07:20:00.003-04:00

fantastic!

Tron
by freres-hueon

via drawn.ca

on a bible kick

2008-03-29T11:28:00.004-04:00

there seems to be a trend in the blogs and articles i have been reading lately. mostly religious stuff. for example, a nice list of bible verses that you will probably never hear in a sermon on sunday. example? sure.

Ezekiel 23:19-20
Yet she increased her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth when she engaged in prostitution in the land of Egypt. She lusted after their genitals as large as those of donkeys, and their seminal emission was as strong as that of stallions.

the rest of the list can be found here

the new 7 deadly sins

2008-03-29T11:24:00.006-04:00

these don't really have the same pizzazz as greed, envy and lust. but hey, the church has to look for new things to condemn right?

see the new and improved deadly sins here

via boing boing

smitty - apples

2007-12-04T01:22:00.001-05:00

currently, a favourite song of mine. written and performed by i guy i first met years and years ago. enjoy.

Tipalet

2007-11-14T20:22:00.002-05:00

Tipalet
Originally uploaded by sofia sweetheart.

from the vintage advertising pool" on flickr.

wow. "blow in her face"? try running that line in an ad today and see how far you get. course, cigarette ads were never really known for their subtlety now we're they.

sarah's sketches

2007-11-08T22:57:00.001-05:00

this girl has got to be one of the most talented artists i have seen. just phenomenal. take your time and scroll through her blog and there is more on her website as well.
here are a few of my favourites:
pippi longstocking
the bride of frankenstein
shazam

30 games in 30 days

2007-11-08T22:37:00.000-05:00

this is quite simply, amazing. this guy has decided to visit every nhl hockey arena (of which there are 30) in a span of 30 days. yep, 1 a night. not only visit, but has arranged his schedule so that he takes in a game on every night.

the itinerary is as follows:
DETROIT
LOS ANGELES
ANAHEIM
NEW YORK
MONTREAL
NEW JERSEY
NEW YORK
DALLAS
PHOENIX
COLUMBUS
FLORIDA
OTTAWA
PITTSBURGH
BOSTON
CHICAGO
WASHINGTON
COLORADO
SAN JOSE
CALGARY
VANCOUVER
EDMONTON
ST. LOUIS
PHILADELPHIA
MINNESOTA
ATLANTA
TORONTO
BUFFALO
NASHVILLE
CAROLINA
TAMPA BAY

thats insane.

he is currently on game 13 and updating fairly regularly and giving really good post-game comments as well as talking a bit about the travel, accomodations and generousity of all the fans he is meeting.
a very ambitious task and i wish him luck.

what to expect

2007-11-08T22:36:00.000-05:00

so as i try to get more active with this site, i have decided to go back to the heyday of its past and become a giant link-whore. enjoy.

update but not really

2007-11-06T21:23:00.002-05:00

yes, i know, i need to update this things. gimme time. uh, well, more time.

once again

2007-04-01T14:00:00.000-04:00

as before, i will be leaving the below drunken post up for all to ridicule. its not all that bad actually. it was a great time, and i do remember most of it. tim is feeling like crap, but we are forcing him into the shower so we can head over to detroit. good times at wrestlemania are afoot.

windsor

2007-04-01T03:27:00.000-04:00

much like the last time i was inwindsor, i haev had way too much to drink and am hanging out with others who have also had way too much too drink. i had my first schwarma tonight. it was chicken. now we are being boring and playing wii. yes, we are geeks.

web 2.0

2007-02-28T22:16:00.001-05:00

yep yep

2007-02-02T18:19:00.000-05:00

after coming across a recent pic of vanilla ice on flickr, i was reminded of my general love for the rap industry and vanilla ice in particular. yeah, yeah. scoff. go ahead. get it out of your system. done? not yet? i'll wait.

ok, so anyway, i really did enjoy the song ice, ice, baby. seriously. but the rest of the album was never listened to much. i also grabbed the live cd he released (recorded in miami of course), which contained another vanilla favourite of mine that i am going to guess, not many people have ever heard of, and thats satisfaction. and then when he changed his image and went punk, pot-head, i still bought his next album. i was always proud that i owned all three vanilla ice albums, especially when people always asked, "he had 3 albums?!?!". very proud.

then i see this picture and decided to do a little research. he released 8 albums in total. 8.

now granted, one was live. one was a best hits (which i think is also the album with the least number of tracks on it. funny.) and i think 2 of them contained mostly the same songs, just recorded as slightly different genres. still, that leaves 5 original collections of music from a man known the world over as a one-hit wonder.

oh, and lets not forget the oscar-worthy performance in "cool as ice". still a guilty pleasure of mine to watch this movie. and yes, it is currently sitting on my pvr (tivo for the americans), and no, i will not be erasing it anytime soon.

anyway, here is the discography.

to the extreme (1990)
extremely live (1991)
mind blowin' (1994)
hard to swallow (1998)
best of vanilla ice (2001)
bi-polar (2001)
hot sex (2003)
platinum underground (2005)

and i noticed on his wikipedia page, his discography is a bit longer, but only because they include hooked, his first ep which was a very limited release, pre-cursor to to the extreme, and 2 more best of... albums.

flower

2007-01-16T22:09:00.001-05:00

flower
Originally uploaded by static.

i submit photos to a site called jpg magazine. i managed to get published once and i hope to do it again. so, feel free to click here and vote for this photo in the category of "elegance".

can i call em?

2007-01-16T19:19:00.000-05:00

check out this post of mine from way back in november of 2004.

your future president
forget hillary in 2008. barack obama is the ideal and logical choice for president in 2008. problem is, i think he's too smart to want the job. but he would be a good one.

and now he's running. hey america, you have a chance to do some good here. don't blow it.

go saints go

2007-01-13T23:16:00.000-05:00

i am watching my saints win their playoff matchup right now against the eagles. i am very, very happy.

purple and white

2007-01-13T21:34:00.001-05:00

purple and white
Originally uploaded by static.

i took this pic last summer. i then posted it to my flickr site and just recently got a comment from someone that it has appeared on a website called thefairest.info where you can vote repeatedly between 2 given images. pick which one looks better to you and then you are given another set. this continues until you choose to leave the site. using some crazy math and algorithims, they also list a top 40 of the "prettiest" photos based on the user picks. i assume this top 40 is always chaging as more and more votes are recorded. interesting enough. and apparently all pretty photos are based in nature. take a look at the top 40 and you will see what i mean.

the way mary poppins was meant to be

2007-01-11T21:54:00.000-05:00

this is what i love about the whole mashup thing. people can screw around with video and sound and create whatever they want. in that vein, i present, scary mary

i saw this a while back and forgot to post it but was recently reminded of it when i saw it on amy's page

wookieepedia

2007-01-10T21:18:00.000-05:00

every once in awhile, i find a new time waster. the kind that al gore was aiming for when he invented the internet. here is my newest. a wiki on star wars. wookiepedia

death toys

2006-12-13T22:38:00.000-05:00

think back to all the toys you owned growing up. especially if you are into your 30's or higher. were any of them designed to be safe? hell no. that was just an added bonus. they were designed to be fun, and exciting, and if they had a point, thrown at your nearest sibling.
here then, is a compiled list of the top 10 most dangerous toys in the last half century.

found via gizmodo

Willkommen!

2006-10-06T21:09:00.000-04:00

i wasn't sure how to write "holy crap, its been a long time since i posted" in german, so i went with welcome. and why german? cause once again, we here in kitchener kick off oktoberfest. and once again, i am getting the hell out of dodge and going up to tobermory for the weekend. i wonder if other cities have the same phenomenon? a big celebration that is known the region/province/country/world over, yet if you take a close look, its all tourists because the locals get fed up with all the noise. or is it just me?
but as always, i did have to take a few minutes to step outside of work, mingle amongst the lederhosen and dirndl, listen to a little walter ostinak and witness dalton mcguinty try to tap a keg by swinging a hammer like my six year old daughter. anyone catch that on the news tonight? or did they edit it down to one swing? cause it twern't no one swing. but alas, i had my sausage and drink (thanx to the boss for picking up the tab on that) and forced my way back through the crowd to continue the rest of my work day.

the day of the devils slightly younger sibling

2006-05-14T22:16:00.000-04:00

allright, so whoever anonymous is in the comment for the post below, you are correct. you can see that i also mentioned in that post that i was going to bed? there was a reason for that. i was very very very tired. so, yep, you caught me, that date stamp below would be been 566. so lets try this again.

in about twenty three days, the date stamp will be 666. 6th day of the 6th month of the 6th year.

the day of the devil

2006-05-05T23:21:00.000-04:00

in about an hour, the date stamp will be 666. 6th day of the 6th month of the 6th year.
i am posting now as i plan on being in bed by then.

best name is sports

2006-05-05T18:07:00.000-04:00

step aside coco crisp. take a seat dick trickle. not so fast god shamgod. your time has passed dick butkus. the new name in sports, drafted in the 3rd round, 91st overall in this years nfl draft to the cincinnati bengals, from usc, defensive end, frostee rucker.

april 7

2006-04-07T01:05:00.000-04:00

and now i'm 32.

did you know?

2006-04-06T22:02:00.000-04:00

that yesterday (wednesday april 5, 2006), at 3 seconds past 1:02 am, the date stamp for that particular second would be
01:02:03 04/05/06.
that just seems kinda cool.

the fries

2006-03-31T22:22:00.000-05:00

the fries
Originally uploaded by static.

so if you scroll down to the post titled "wow", which is the post i created will completely intoxicated, you will see a mention of poutine. this is what stephe and i decided to cook at 2 in the morning as we walked into his apartment (did i mention the alcohol we had consumed?) . well, the photo you see here, is what we ended up with 7 hours later when stephe shut the stove off. so nice i had to take a picture.

kevin smith

2006-03-31T22:00:00.000-05:00

so anyone who knows me well (and even those who only know me kinda-well), know that i am a big fan of kevin smith. i don't think there is anything this guy could do, that i wouldn't enjoy. the movies, the comics, the guest appearances, the acting, its all gold. anyways, he has been slammed a bit lately for telling tales about his buddy jason (the jay to his silent bob) and has decided to set the record straight regarding the relationship between jason and himself. its pretty graphic, and very real (dude, if i end up pimping you for a made up story, well, i will still be a big fan, but there may be a little unspoken awkwardness between us. unspoken because i have never met you and likely never will).
so, a story in 4 5 6 7 8 9 parts. i will link to each as they become available.
part one
part two
part three
part four
part five
part six
part seven
part eight
part nine

double wow

2006-03-11T13:03:00.000-05:00

ok, the below post was made while i was obviously very, very drunk. i will leave it there as a reminder of the night, which was a very fun night. its been a long time since i was that bad. and if anyone from work reads this, i told you i came here planning to not remember the weekend. and i barely remember last night.

wow

2006-03-11T02:20:00.000-05:00

i am unbelieveaby intoxicatiod right now. i just spent the last 6 hours at a bar where the band was ppretty good. i am making poutine right now. and flling aspleep.seems very importmant to me whether i reacj that goal 9or not. anywys.

see ya monday

2006-03-10T00:38:00.000-05:00

i am off to windsor for a weekend i don't plan on remembering when i get back.

kingston rep-ruh-zent

2006-02-14T23:28:00.000-05:00

being a (for the most part) good kingston boy, its good to see someone doing something interesting, funny and prosperous. course, i hated queens students (ok, maybe a handful snuck under that radar), and these people probably aren't from kingston anyway. oh well, i still throw out to ghetto tees.

just awesome

2006-02-14T21:24:00.000-05:00

i am such a sucker for good photography. plus, this guy is doing what i wanted to do this year. a photo a day for a whole year. the difference between us? you can see his attempt here. my attempt, uh, nowhere to be found.

monkey barn

2006-02-09T21:47:00.000-05:00

another site i am adding to my blog roll. with my girl dragon adding her enlightening thoughts, its a fun read. read it here

brokeback to the future

2006-02-08T22:35:00.000-05:00

with a little creative editing, all original sound and some mood music, trailer mash ups can can very, very good. see a good one here
thank you to amy allcock, now lovingly adorning my blogroll.

holy shit

2006-02-07T23:44:00.000-05:00

so i take the day off work because my wife had to go to a funeral. i'm watching the 11:30pm news and what do i see? a bomb threat at work!!!!! man, i miss all the good days.

circa 1970-what?

2006-02-07T13:59:00.000-05:00

117_1781
Originally uploaded by static.

this shot always reminds me of a living room from a 70's newly built suburban home. the colours, the cheesy curtain fabric, the brown and gold striped couch. then i remember this photo was taken at my parents house in 2003.

reading material

2006-01-31T21:50:00.000-05:00

i keep a running list over on the right hand side and will be updating all the books for 2006. here is the list from 2005 as they will now be deleted from the recently read column.
catcher in the wry
flash forward
wicked
5 people you meet in heaven
lotr triolgy (+ hobbit)
harry potter and the half blood prince
around the world in 80 days
to be the man
tuesdays with morrie
charlie and the chocolate factory
america the book
adam copeland on edge
watchmen
barenaked ladies; public stunts, private stories
angels and demons
da vinci code
eats, shoots & leaves
planet of the umps
little children
joe college
pagen babies
all families are psychotic
sex, lies, and headlocks
girlfriend in a coma
the cheese monkeys

top 10 hated sports figures

2006-01-30T20:18:00.000-05:00

this was done by gq magazine. and this isn't just hated by the fans, this is by their peers. the ones who know about the behind the scenes shenanigans and what these guys are really like. a couple surprises (to me anyway).
10. lleyton hewitt - um, kind of a surprise. looks like he could be a dick but i wasn't aware of the on court stuff like described in the article.
9. aj pierzynski - same thing. has that cocky bastard look, but till you start hearing the stories about the locker room antics, you don't really see it. and i don't buy the "talking trash to the batter" stuff. he's a catcher, thats what the good ones do.
8. phil mickelson - this one was the biggest surprise. phil, really? but i guess the family guy (no, not that family guy) thing is a act for the sposnors. hmmm, and he also is called (i am assuming behind his back but thanks to this article, i think he knows now) my new favourite nickname that i am going to start using for myself, FIGJAM (fuck i'm good just ask me). beautiful.
7. bonzi wells - i don't follow basketball anymore, but i have heard enough that this doesn't really surprise me,
6. michael iaconelli - never heard of the guy but he is apparently the biggest dick of the bass fishing world (and yes, they use the term basshole in the article, ugh). he celebrates when he catches one, swears and causes a disturbance when he doesn't, trash talks to other fishers and causes a media frenzy during tournaments. sounds like he is just trying to bring some attention to the sport. this is probably more of a bell curve thing. if he were in any other sport, he would be normal. because its fishing? biggest dick alive.
5. kobe bryant - again, not much of a surprise if you have heard the stuff between him and shaq.
4. curt schilling - probably the 2nd biggest surprise for me, apparently i'm the idiot because i bought the whole, "my tendon had to be surtured on and i am in an unbelievable amount of pain". rumor is that maybe the blood on the sock was not really blood. seems to be a little far-fetched to me, but i wasn't interviewed for the article.
3. kurt busch - race car drivers are all dicks. my surprise was finding out that only one made the list.
2. barry bonds - no surprise here. and i know i commended him in a previous post, but that was because he was being dicked around in a interview and verbally went at the reporter. i enjoyed that.
and number 1? terrell owens - if you are surprised by this, then this entire list probably didn't make any sense to you anyway.

see the whole article here.

lights

2006-01-14T09:51:00.000-05:00

lights
Originally uploaded by static.

these are the kind of accidents i used to love with film photography. i still love them now (with digital) but i don't get the pamphlet from the stores anymore about how to take an in focus picture. i miss those pamphlets.

too funny

2006-01-13T23:03:00.000-05:00

funniest blonde joke ever.
ever.

long time

2006-01-13T23:00:00.000-05:00

i just realized that after a way too long time period of procrastination, and the fact that veela is blogging again, i should get this thing up and moving again. that and if you scroll down, the bottom post on this thing is (or at least, it was) dated may 17 of last year. yikes.

1 million dollars

2005-11-03T01:03:00.001-05:00

i went to the toronto argonauts game against the hamilton tiger cats. this guy, in the red, kicked a 50 yard field goal for a million dollars. he missed the 20 yard kick for $1000, he missed the 30 yard kick for a digital imaging system and he missed the 40 yard kick for a home entertainment system. all three kicks he missed wide right (scott norwood!!!) by about 10 feet. but he nailed the one that counted. oh, and the game kinda sucked and hamilton doesn't really have much of an offense this year.

yet another quiz

2005-10-21T22:00:00.000-04:00

yes, i know i said i hate these things but this one struck a chord with me. religion. seems like i'm a...

Humanist

Your ideals mostly resemble that of a Humanist. Although you do not have a lot of faith, you are devoted to making this world better, in the short time that you have to live. Humanists do not generally believe in an afterlife, and therefore, are committed to making the world a better place for themselves and future generations.

20% scientific.
80% reason-oriented.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

oktoberfest

2005-10-20T22:22:00.000-04:00

as most know, kitchener is home to the 2nd largest oktoberfest celebration in the world (one step behind germany). this leads to an astounding number of drinking related injuries. yet, this is not what happened to me. yes, thats me up there with the crutches next to this years miss oktoberfest and a friend named michael. michael was the one that thought it was funny when miss oktoberfest came over for the pic to say, "don't worry, thats just my blackberry." moron. anyway, the crutches were a result of a volleyball accident. nothing more than an annoying sprain. i threw the crutches out after two days. i hate those things.

nanowirmo

2005-10-19T21:17:00.000-04:00

i can't believe i am thinking about trying this again. i don't think i typed word one last year. yet, nanowrimo, national novel writing month, is here, and i have signed up. you should too.

too long

2005-09-30T21:50:00.000-04:00

its been way too long between posts.

south africa is popular this time of year

2005-08-19T23:21:00.000-04:00

wow. another friend who is travelling to south africa and will also be blogging (and flickring too please?). go visit her and her friends here.

wwe wrestling

2005-08-13T12:11:00.001-04:00

those who know me, know i enjoy the pro wrestling. tonight, raw came to kitchener ontario, and as usual. i was there. here is the story.

i was on the music setup side this time and was close enough to get this shot of the lineup. a couple things got moved around so this doesn't exactly match what i am about to talk about.

started of the night with the highlanders v. mike mizanin and chris cage. good little match. the only guy i really knew here was mizanin from his tough enough days. i would rather he would have won instead of puder. the highlanders have a neat little gimmick where their tag is a slap to the face. crowd was split on who to cheer for. the highlanders were playing the heels but the crowd started out supporting them and then kind of turning on them about halfway through. mizanin and cage are your winners.

next was rene dupree and chris masters. now, i am not a chris masters fan in anyway. i do not believe he belongs on tv. having said that, he did a good job here with the smaller crowd. his opening promo was fairly tight despite me hoping for orton-esque abilities on the mic and the match was pretty good. they took the cheap way out with dupree playing the canadian card and getting decent pops throughout the match. dupree looks alot different from the last time he was here. however, masters won with the masterlock.

next was stacey out to excite the male portion of the audience but her big reason for being there was to bring out trish stratus for a promo. be still my beating heart. the two of them talked for a bit, hitting the current favorite crowd popper, "lita is a slut" when rob conway decides to come to the ring. he calls them both gutter trash and when the girls both decide to slap him, he catches their arms and holds them when big vis decides to interject. conway cuts a little promo about how how has already beat him, vis attacks and the match is on. the girls head for the locker room and vis and conway should have followed. match wasn't that good. vis wins after hitting everyones favorite move, the greco roman butt rape (TM Rick Scaia). ref jack doan injured his leg/ankle during the match. he was visibly limping from about the halfway point on.

after that was shelton benjamin and carilto.. i must admit, these guys are two of my favourites. both were on tonight and the crowd was really up for this one. carilto is such a natural in this business. his mannerisms, his speech, his movements all seem so natural and fluid. this kid is going to be huge someday. shelton is just a great wrestler. and he seems to have shook the carilto curse in this one as there were no moments were he almost killed himself. they had a cool spot where carilto had shelton in an arm lock and pushed him onto his back. shelton the nipped up and carlito pushed him back down. shelton ended up nipping up three times in a row. it was cool and as far as i recall, they haven't done that spot on tv. here's hoping there can break it out soon. oh, and carlito retained on a double countout.

the last match before the intermission was snitsky v. big show. i high fived show on the way out and asked for one shhhhhh!-chop. if you are a fan, you know what the means. he obliged within the first 2 minutes. very nice. show wins.

during the intermission this smoking hot big boobed chick comes up and asks if she can slide in beside me when john cena leaves the ring at the end of the night. apparently they met at an autograph signing and went on a date and now she wants to remind him of who she is. she says, "he may not remember this (points to her face) but he should remember these (points to boobs). she seems like a nice stalker.

back from the intermission we have the tag title match. hurricane and rosey (and of course, every leather fetish's dream, super stacey) against lance cade and trevor murdoch. cade has a country-rock singer look about him and murdoch looks to be doing a son-of-dick-murdoch gimmick. he had the mannerisms and everything done and was actually very entertaining during the match. a lot of comments for fans, refs, his partner and his opponents. and in my eyes, hurricane can do no wrong so this was a decent match. champs retain and then a pretty decent heel beatdown to end. hurricane took the worst of it and stacey went running off during it almost like she was going to get help, but then never came back. guess she couldn't find anyone.

eugene came out next to a decent reaction. a security guard went over to this kid sitting on a floor seat, grabbed his sign and ripped it up. the guy next to us says it read "eugene is the shit" but my buddy swore it said "eugene should be shot". then out comes angle who grabs a mic and asks eugene where his gold medal. eugene says he forgot it at home and let the beating commence. all angle, all the time till the head to the turnbuckle shot. eugene hulks up, hits a few moves including a rock bottom but after that little burst, angle comes back, hits the ankle lock and even grapevines for the win. eugene was helped to the back, even going as far as taking off his boot to take a look at the ankle. strange.

main event was john cena v. edge. lots of mic work and stalling to start. decent match, both guys were playing there parts well here. edge as the evil villain (complete with a reference to the recent signing of lindros to the leafs) and cena as the panders-to-13-year-old girls home boy. i must admit though, the noise level in The Aud grew noticeably during this match. sigh. they did a nice little spot where cena grabbed a foam hand from some kid celebrating his 8th birthday (i know because i read the sign he was holding), took it into the ring and gave edge the finger with it. i wanted him to deliver a shop with it but whatever. cena wins after edge went to the top rope, cena knocked his leg out so he was laid out across the top, then cena slid underneath, and picked him up on his shoulders for an f-u. it took cena about 20 minutes of parading around the ring and high-fiving everyone in the arena before he left. and yes, the chick came back slid in beside me and cena took the photo. she asked him if he remembered her and he said, "of course i do honey" and immediately left. she went right to her cell phone and was still sitting there when we left waiting for the call.

1SSHO74

2005-08-04T16:08:00.000-04:00

1SSHO74
Originally uploaded by doctor paradox.

i love it. i absolutely love it.

plane crash in toronto

2005-08-03T10:21:00.000-04:00

my wife called me from work last night and said that i may want to turn on the tv. i also got an email from a friend saying the same thing. turns out a plane crashed at pearson international airport. from what i understand, it was hit by lightning and skidded off the runway. there are a couple screenshots available. and the miracle is, nobody died.

jeremy in south africa

2005-07-29T10:37:00.000-04:00

my buddy jeremy (brother of tim, who is listed on the left over there) is on a trek of south africa. he is keeping a blog which you can find here and his pics are on flickr, here. check them out.

the daily show couch

2005-07-19T09:05:00.000-04:00

for those who watch the daily show, you will know what this link is all about. for those who don't, well, you should start. this blog is all about trying to get them to bring back the couch. enjoy.