yesterday's news .:. february 2

In the rock and roll move of 2014, 24 year old New Zealander James Grant was attacked by a shark, then fought the animal off before he stitched his own wounds and headed to the pub for a pint. The junior doctor was out spearfishing with some friends when he felt something pulling at his leg. James assumed it was one of his bonehead friends trying to be hilarious. He turned to see in the murky water below a sevengill shark clamped on to his leg, Grant recounted 'bugger, now I have to try and get this thing off my leg." Like many New Zealanders, he already was wielding a knife and stabbed at the shark putting 'a few nicks in it.' He quickly scurried to the rocks on the shore and removed his wet suit revealing bites up to 5 cm long. The resourceful kiwi stitched himself up with a first aid kit he kept in his car then headed off to Colac Bay Tavern for a frosty brew. Staff at the bar had to give him more bandages to stop his wounds from bleeding all over the beer soaked floorboards. After a couple cold ones, he headed to Invercargill Hospital for them to complete the stitching. "I am pretty grateful to have my leg still. When the stitches come out, I will be back in the water." That is metal.

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There's been an article posted all over the internet claiming a North Korean landed a man on the sun. The first thing that comes to mind is 'preposterous' or 'straitjacket,' but knowing how sheltered North Koreans are it not inconceivable they would believe in such malarkey. The North Korean government controls the internet, news, television and all major forms of communication so the public believes what they are fed. And if you're sitting in a market such as, say, Toronto and you've had enough of the local news your can get on the internet and get news from any point of view you want, whether it be American, British, Japanese…whatever. The North Korean government for years has stifled its citizens communication means with outside nations and is sometimes referred to as the 'hermit kingdom.' "We are very delighted to announce a successful mission to put a man on the sun. North Korea has beaten every other country in the world to the sun. Hung Il Gong is a hero and deserves a hero's welcome when he returns home later this evening," proclaimed a North Korean anchor. A ambitious 17 year old youth name Hung Il Gong made a four hour (really?) journey to the sun in his specially designed rocket ship. Upon landing on the sun, Gong collected sun spot samples before hopping back into his vessel for a four hour flight home on cruise control with a bottle of Dom. The 'greatest human achievement of our time' (coined by the North Korean Central News agency obvs) took the young man eighteen hours round trip. Upon his return to Earth (relatively speaking), Hung Il Gong met with supreme leader and certifiable lunatic Kim Jong-un. Oh… Kim Jon-un is this kids uncle. Nothing fishy here.

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The Portuguese Navy has discovered a large pyramid underwater between the islands of Sao Miguel and Terciera in the Azores islands some 900 miles off the shore of capital city Lisbon. According to claims, the pyramid's base is perfectly squared measure at around 8000 square meters, reaching heights of 60 meters. The pyramid was found in an area of the mid-Atlantic ocean that has been underwater from some 20,000 years so it is assumed that whatever people living in the region at the time built the thing. Exact co-ordinates aren't publicly known; but the Azores Islands lay around the fault lines of the North American, Eurasian and African tectonic plates so an interesting place for a pyramid considering the energetic qualities and resonant frequencies associated with them. The fellow who discovered the pyramid, Diocleciano Silva believes there may be another pair of pyramids that there could be a design link to that of the Egyptian pyramids. Any discovery of this nature leads everyone to question 'have we found Atlantis?' Who knows? Geographically, it's close; Atlantis was allegedly in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, described in Plato's 'Timaeus' some 2350 years ago as a vast, advanced civilization but then sank entirely in one day and night after a botched attack on Athens. Over the centuries the story of Atlantis has evolved, and is now considered folklore since there is no concrete evidence proving it ever existed. It has always been a story that fascinated me since I was knee high to a grasshopper, but unfortunately science doesn't lend itself to any Atlantis lost continent theories. The continental drift theory has been around since proposed by Abraham Ortelius in 1596 (was probably burned at the stake as a heretic), but was refined with the advanced concept of plate tectonics (tracking the movement of the continents relative to each other creating the allusion they are 'drifting' across the ocean bed) in the 1960's making the disappearance of a large continent a geological impossibility. Another one bites the dust. 

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Fordsy booked in Vancouver for jaywalking. Possible drunken stupor. If you're still following the moron-a-thon, check it HERE.

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It's (almost) the fifty year anniversary of the Beatles performing on the Ed Sullivan show to some 73 million people in the U.S. The band has become a sensation a few months prior with a DJ spinning a record his friend had brought back from the U.K. That was it… music as we knew it had changed forever. The four blokes from the bleak streets of Liverpool took the world, and most importantly (at least in terms of record sales) the United States by storm. With one full length album "Introducing the Beatles," countless singles then their follow up "Meet the Beatles," released two weeks prior to their appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, the band was formally introduced to Americans. Beatlemania had arrived. As the legend goes, Ed Sullivan was a frequent visitor to England and had witnessed the crowds who were welcoming home the Beatles from a tour of Sweden. Sullivan told the New York Times "I made up my mind that this was the same sort of mass hit hysteria that had characterized the Elvis Presley days." The appearance on Sullivan was their American debut, aired on Sunday, February 9, 1964 and is one of the landmark 'where were you when…' events of the 1960's, as memorable as the moon landing and the JFK assassination. The Late Show With David Letterman, the current tenants of the Ed Sullivan theatre, have decided to pay tribute to the event with a slate of musical guests performing Beatles songs on the Late Show the week of February  3-7. Some artists/song choices have been announced and include Sting doing "Drive My Car," Danger Mouse with the Shins' James Mercer cover "And I Love Her" and John Lennon's son Julian joining the Flaming Lips for a rendition of "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds." Lenny Kravitz will be playing on the Wednesday February 5th show but what song he is playing isn't known. Here's Letterman's 30 Year Tribute from 1994.

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What the hell is going on with Black Flag? They have always been a polarizing band, regardless of lineup, but lately I'm convinced that Greg Ginn is insane. Ginn started the band, originally called Panic and went through a singer or two before solidifying their lineup with Henry Rollins as their frontman. Legal battles in the early 80s after signing a major label deal prevented the band from releasing material under their own name. Once the case was settled, Black Flag released a string of classic records in rapid succession; "My War," "Family Man," "Slip It In," "Loose Nut," "In My Head," were all put out between early 1984 to late 1985 before the band dissolved. Various incarnations have popped up here and there for one off shows, but it got a little realer in 2012. Ginn got together a new incarnation of the band while a 'tribute' band of mostly former members popped up using the moniker 'Flag.' After Ginn unsuccessfully tried to sue the 'rival' band, he soldiered on with singer Ron Reyes and released a sub par album called "What the…" In the latest chapter in the increasingly tarnished Black Flag legacy finds Ginn and Black Flag manager/pro skater Mike Vallely firing vocalist Reyes on stage mid show. Vallely has been named new vocalist of the band, a move alluded to by Reyes who noted shortly after his departure "I would not be surprised if Mike V becomes the new singer for Black Flag. It is my opinion that they have been planning this for some time." Vallely told Rolling Stone that Reyes was told 'very plainly, very simply, that it was over. And he (Ron) looked at me and he almost seemed relieved." Ginn, true to Reyes' prediction, asked Vallely to join the band immediately. "Greg just felt like 'I don't want the Black Flag name to fizzle out with this or be tainted with this record that's proven to be subpar compared to what the expectations for it were.' He told me he made a mistake by working with Ron and trying to pander to a sort of old-school thing. He just thought that I was the guy for the job. I'm not gonna say no to that," said Vallely. The band has begun recording new material and are expected to hit the road in May for an extended tour. 

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The black sheep of the awards show season, the Grammys wasn't without it moments. Not that I gave a rip about any actual category, its tough to not want to see Paul and Ringo play together again, despite being the two least interesting Beatles. Pink put on an impressive silk display, backed by a crap song and Daft Punk looked like extras from 'Attack Of the Clones' while sweeping the major awards. In what should have been an impressive finale, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails was joined by the Queens Of the Stone Age, Dave Grohl and Lindsay Buckingham… what was actually aired was pretty rad, ripping through NIN track "Copy Of A" then QOTSA rocker "My God Is the Sun" before fading to the credits mid track. Reznor, obviously annoyed, tweeted shortly after the ceremony ended "Music's biggest night… to be disrespected. A heartfelt f*** you, guys." The Grammys have since apologized and expressed a certain amount of calculated sympathy for him. "I'm sorry he was upset. I was really thrilled that we were finally getting him on the Grammys," said Ken Ehrlich, producer of the show, also noting "I want to end on a high, an up note. I did tell them we'd take it as long as we could. The number was about five, six  minutes long, and we got to within a minute twenty of the end. We got as close as we could possibly get." You could have cut that hair flail put to music that was Taylor Swift to let some decent bands play. Just a thought..

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The Toronto Maple Leafs are all of a sudden playing like a team possessed reeling off a 9-1-1 record in their past eleven games vaulting them to the lofty fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. The Leafs are six points up on the eighth spot and have a hold on the third playoff position in the Atlantic division, and sit a mere three point behind second place Tampa Bay. Phil Kessel, who hit the thirty goal mark for the sixth time in his career last night with a hat trick in a 6-3 win over Ottawa, is sixth in league scoring, and second in goals scored behind only Alex Ovechkin. Equally impressive of late has been Kessel's linemates, Tyler Bozak, who has been on fire since returning from injury and James van Riemsdyk, who along with Kessel is an American Olympian. Not only is the trio arguably the hottest line in the NHL - there is stiff competition from a certain Sharp-Toews-Hossa line boasted by the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks - but their second line of Joffrey Lupul,  Nazam Kadri and Nikolai Kulemin (filling in for the injured David Clarkson) has also came to life. Kadri tucked in two goals, one of the highlight reel variety last Tuesday against Tampa before adding three assists against the Panthers on Thursday. Lupul, who hadn't scored in what seems like months has scored goals in consecutive games and has four points in the last three contests. Big shoutout to the newly acquired Tim Gleason who seems to be blocking shots at the rate of about one per shift.. He's been a horse out there defensively and a huge addition to our blueline. How is he not injured yet by the way? Man, he's taken some shots.. about four painful looking ones in the Tampa game alone. The Leafs head to Florida for rematches of last weeks games in Toronto, first to Miami to play the Panthers then off to Tampa to take on the Lightning before coming home to a contest against the Vancouver Canucks to conclude their pre-Olympic schedule. 

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Speaking of the Olympics (Opening Ceremonies this Friday, Canada's first game against Norway is on February 13 at noon), Sidney Crosby made a classy gesture to Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews by asking if it was alright to accept the captaincy of the team. I've thought Toews resume, omit actual points, has been just as impressive as Sid's, captaining the Hawks to two Stanley Cup championships. Toews, always subdued and humble, was flattered saying "for Sidney to ask guys for approval, I don't think he needed to do that, but it shows the kind of guy he is. I'm just honoured to be in the conversation for captaincy. One way or the other, I'm excited to accept a role like that." I still wish he was captain and if it was any other team he would be. Team Canada coach Mike Babcock rained praised on the Hawks captain stating he would be a deserving captain. "He's earned the right to be a captain with Canada: two cups, Olympic gold. I don't know what else he's won. It seems more than that. He's a pro who does it right every day. He's a 200 footer. To me, he's an impressive, impressive man." Toews will wear a letter at the tournament as he was named alternate captain, along with Nashville Predators captain Shea Weber. Team Canada boasts six NHL captains signifying an abundance of leadership in their dressing room. Go Canada!

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london times

Londontown. This post has been a long time coming but hey, hey, what can you do? So what did I take away from a week spent in one of the world's leading financial and cultural capitals? Mainly, that a week isn't enough to scratch the surface of what London has to offer. Most days were spent walking around the endless winding streets and gazing in awe at the buildings older than the country of Canada itself. The city, original settled by Romans some 2,000 years ago, has been through several rebuilds, starting with the Roman settlement being burned to the ground by the Iceni tribe. The Romans heavily planned rebuild peaked at 60,000 people around 200 AD. Roman rule collapsed in the early 5th Century and London was abandoned. Anglo Saxons, who had a settlement west of the Old London City moved within the Roman walls to shield themselves from the constant attack from the Vikings. By 1300 AD, London had grown to 100,000 people but in time over-population and disease became rampant, not to mention much of the city was destroyed by the Great Fire Of London in 1666, which took ten years to rebuild. Onward and upward.. London became the world's largest city from 1831-1925 despite losing over 20,000 lives in two major cholera epidemics in 1848 and 1866. 

London's "Tube" rail network is celebrating it's 150th anniversary this year. It has 270 stations and over 250 miles of track which ranks it the fourth largest transit system in the world (behind Seoul, Shanghai and Beijing). The area it covers is quite extensive and puts Toronto's subway to absolute shame. Toronto's transit cover 69 subway stations despite being the third most trafficked system in North America (behind New York and Mexico City). I suppose subway stations are a product of their time since Toronto's definitely shows that it was born in the 1950-70s, and London's, at least the core of the city, was built 100+ years ago. The entryways have lavish gates and fencing, and channels of underground hallways to connect to whichever of the 11 different lines you intend to board. Despite the map looking like a plate of multicoloured spaghetti, it was surprisingly easy to navigate with excellant signage everywhere. The cars themselves weren't the tallest… not so much a problem for me but if you were any taller that 6'2" you could develop a neck problem. I also never thought I'd every say this about any city's transit: I preferred the buses. As it turns out the double-decker bus isn't a novelty. Virtually every bus there is a DD, and not only that, all of them were hybrid. It shows some foresight among the London Transit Authority to replace a fleet of some 8,000 old buses with hybrids. It, obviously, had to be of astronomical cost but good for themselves, the riders, the city and the environment for years to come. The buses really have a major presence on the road, and since I saw two gas stations the entire week it seems that transit is the way to get around. It is also a good way to check out some of the city without a dude in the front telling you irrelevant stories in a jovial voice. 

I didn't see Buckingham Palace, or Picadilly Circus other than in passing. Oh, and I missed out on the museums. It happens, though I did see the outside of some of them (that counts right?). A walk along the Thames from the London Bridge to the Tower Bridge was pretty awesome, with a little jettison to the Borough Market at closing time (they still close up as fast as closing time as here). The London Bridge itself, which the song about it falling down is the extent of my knowledge on the subject, was pretty cool since there is apparently a new London Bridge and an old one which in fact fell down. There had been early bridges during Roman rule, one of which was destroyed by a tornado in 1091 then the rebuild was destroyed by a fire in 1136. They weren't joking around the third time as Henry II commissioned a new stone bridge which was 26 feet wide and about 800 feet long and by 1358 has over 138 shops along it. They had a major fire on the Northwest side in 1633 but ironically it saved the bridge from being completely devastated by the Great Fire of London. The were over 200 buildings on the bridge some reaching over seven stories high, but unfortunately by the end of the 18th century the bridge became decrepit and highly congested, sometimes taking over 60 mins to cross during peak hours. The London Bridge of the 19th century was better built for transportation, and by 1896 became the busiest point in London, but still one of the most congested. Surveyors found that the bridge was sinking an inch every 8 years and soon enough the bridge had to be replaced. In an interesting twist, this incarnation of the London Bridge was put up for sale and in 1968 the bridge was sold to an American. Missiourian entrepreneur Robert C. McCulloch purchased the bridge for almost two and a half million dollars. He believed he was buying the more famous tower bridge but, piece by piece, the bridge was sent over to Lake Havasu City, Arizona and rebuilt. The Modern London Bridge was built between 1967 and 1972, but the pillars of the previous bridge still exist and sit just east of the new one.

Abbey Road was pretty awesome. A heavily trafficked road where people don't seem to mind risking their lives to recreate the Beatles famous "Abbey Road" album cover. While risking life and limb to get a shot I was amazed at all the graffiti on the wall, and noted a couple of them were pretty recent. As it happens, there is so much traffic and graffiti at the studio that they have to repaint the white wall every couple months so all of them are recent. And that thing is covered. Not only did the Beatles record all their album there, it also recorded every Floyd album from their 1967 Syd Barrett led debut "The Piper At the Gates Of Dawn" to 1975's "Wish You Were Here," as well as albums by Connie Francis, The Shadows, The Buzzcocks, The Alan Parsons Project, Rush, Duran Duran, Radiohead, Oasis, Bush and U2. Pretty cool spot in an unassuming building (pretty plain for such a historic place). Abbey Road Studios almost got demolished in 2010 to make way for luxury condos but the studio was saved, and was declared as a historic site by the British government, halting any proposed alterations to the building. You can check out the camera thats pointed on the famous crosswalk 24/7 HERE.

Ghosts. Pubs. Ghosts in pubs. I wanted to check out a ghost tour, since given London's ridiculously long history if there is going to be spirits anywhere it would be there. I found a couple good ones on the googles only to find out that there wasn't another tour planned until the evening of the day I left. So that was bollocks, as the kids say over there. Fortunately, the googles also steered me to some other ghost walks centred around pubs that where near to where I was staying for the week. The first one wasn't the most interesting, something about the owner of the business who often looked upon his patrons from on a rocking chair from the second floor and had been seen many times since his death. The pathway to get to the pub was much more interesting and spooky than the pub itself. The next spot was Charterhouse Square where it said that it was once a plague pit where 50,000 victims of the 'Black Death' are said to be buried. Some of them would have still been alive while thrown into the pit of the decaying bodies and people who walked to square at night have long report that they heard anguished screams as they relive their final agonies. In the nearby Charterhouse School, kids were dared to go to the square at midnight and put their ear to the ground to listen for the spirits howling underneath the grass. Not to mention the spirit of a monk that roams the grounds of the Charthouse, London's only surviving Tudor townhouse. 

"At night when the surrounding streets fall silent, a shadowy monk is said to drift aimlessly about the cobblestone courtyards, parts of which survive from the days as a monastery. He shares his weary vigils with the headless spectre of the Duke of Norfolf that comes striding down the main staircase, on which he was arrested, his head tucked neatly under his arm." 

Ya. Anyways the last pub was pretty neat. The Sutton Arms is tucked away (as most pubs seemed to be) in a narrow street and has a beautiful bow-window frontage has a small but warm interior and is haunted by a red hair old gentleman in old fashioned dress named Charley. He has been sitting alone in the corner of the pub on many occasions and even appeared suddenly to a couple girls while they were having a lunchtime drink. He appeared, smiled, then disappeared. In 1997, a friend of the landlord who was staying upstairs in one of the rooms above the pub was looking in a mirror and saw a reflection of a red haired man smiling at her. She turned around and no one was there. Dun dun dun. I was hoping the bartender would humour me when I asked of the ghost and she was quick to mention "Charley" by name. She said she had never come in contact with him but knew people who had. She said the basement was really creepy and I asked if I could see it… She said yes, then mentioned it to her husband/bar manager who now lived upstairs and he said no chance. As I drank a delicious glass of lager, crying in my beer, she suddenly came up and said 'alright let's go downstairs'. It was freezing, but pretty run of the mill stuff, cobwebs, wind tunnels, just hundreds of years old. She did show me two old lithographs that were in the basement and always said they creeped her out. It one of those pictures that the eyes follow you no matter where you go. I don't like them. They are creepy but naturally, I had to take a picture despite being weirded out. The woman just look furious. As for the one with the gentleman with no face and a killer moustache I just wonder why a bike like that would even exist. I mean, how unpractical is that? Here's some pictures from there basement of a 200+ year old pub:

Anyways, thats about all I guess. Beatles, walking, rain, double decker bussing and warmish beer. Pretty much what you would expect from London, but wow, you could spend years in that place and discover new things every day. So many curvy narrow roads clearly built for horses, completely devoid of city planning, and just an absolute zoo, I can't say I've visited a city that rivals it other than New York City (no disrespect to other faves San Francisco, Chicago, Portland and Boston) and look forward to exploring it more one of these days!

Feel free to check out my lovely tour guide's photo's here.

news feeds october 9

After a very sting showing at last week's debate, new polls show that Romney has made the race a lot tighter, with both candidates tied with 47% support. Romney was strong and confident in his answers while Obama was staring at the floor while Mitt spoke. Obama poked fun at his poor debate performance at a concert Sunday night with Jennifer Hudson, Bon Jovi, Katy Perry and Stevie Wonder saying "They're such great friends and they just perform flawlessly night after night. I can't always say the same." Barack and Michelle's anniversary also fell on debate night; "There was some speculation as to whether this had an impact on my performance. But I did make it up to her on Saturday." The second debate is scheduled for October 16 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, taking on a town meeting style format where citizens will ask questions to the candidates on foreign and domestic issues. The folks who are asking the questions are undecided voters, looking to have their minds made up, and those nation wide who are on the fence would love any reason at all to not vote for Romney better hope that Obama comes better prepared.

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A skydiver by the name of Felix Baumgartner is attempting a jump from 120,000 ft up in the air, on the edge of space with nothing but a helmet, a space suit and a parachute (and a set of balls the size of Cincinnati). The jump took place this morning (Tuesday) at dawn. "I'm not nuts. You know, our records are meant to be broken, and I'm a very competitive person. I like the challenge," said Baumgartner. He and primary sponsor Red Bull Energy Drink have been working years on taking care of any precautions and insurance (I hope) risks. His ascent will be in a capsule hanging from a helium balloon rising for two to three hours before he climbs out of the capsule and does a swan dive off a step, tucking into a couching "delta" position that will maximize his speed. He then will fall 115,000 feet in five minutes before deploying his parachute for the final 5,000 feet. The apparent risk without the space suit include jumping through temperatures of 70 degrees below Fahrenehit and going through an atmosphere so this that his blood would vaporize. UPDATE: Still on live, but they are saying that the jump isn't happening today because of too brisk winds, and then there was problem with one of the capsules two radios going down. Here's some video from a test jump:

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Star Wars for the upper crust. George Lucas' icon franchise now has an exhibit in the Louvre. There's no actual art involved. It is actual the private toy collection of toy vendor Arnaud Grunberg who has been collecting memorabilia from the series since he saw the original film when he was 11 years old in 1977. The exhibit shows off more that 450 items from the franchises' 35 year history. The goodies include action figures, Yoda masks, Chewbacca coffee mugs, film posters, C-3P0 tape dispensers and Darth Vader Who's Your Daddy (unused) condoms. They also featured recreations of scenes including the attack on the Death Star and the Jedi arena lightsabre battle) made out of action figure and their accompanying vehicles. 

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The Beatles first single "Love Me Do" hit record stores all over the UK on October 5, 1962, or 50 years ago (not to mention John's 72nd birthday would be today). The song was written, or at least started by Paul McCartney in 1958 when Paul was 16 years old playing hooky from school. He sat down with Lennon and fleshed out the rest of the song. "It was completely co-written. It might have been my original idea, but some of them really were 50-50s, and I think that one was. It was just Lennon and McCartney sitting down without either of us having a particularly original idea." Lennon's take on the song in a 1980 interview differ from Paul's account. "'Love Me Do' is Paul's song. Let me think. I Might have helped with the middle either, but I couldn't swear to it. I do know he had the song around, in Hamburg, even, way, way, before we were songwriters." George Harrison said "First hearing 'Love Me Do' on the radio sent me shivery all over. It was the best buzz of all time… After having got to 17, I don't recall what happened to it. It probably went away and died, but what it meant was the next time we went to EMI they were more friendly: 'Oh, hello, lads. Come in."

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Cornelius Crane Chase is 69 years old yesterday, October 8th. This funny man was born to an upper crust Manhattan family in 1943 and the name Chevy was bestowed by his grandmother after "The Ballad of Chevy Chase." Chevy always saw himself as a doctor, but had a change of heart, perhaps after attending a school careers worth of stuffy shirts at private schools and wound up playing drums in a band called the Leather Canary with Walter Becker and Donald Fagen who would later found Steely Dan. Chevy then played drums and keys in a rock band called Chamaeleon Church who put out one major label album before disbanding in 1969. Chevy did many odd jobs, before finally being cast along with future SNLers John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray and Brian-Doyle Murray on the National Lampoon's Radio Hour and appeared with Belushi in National Lampoon's revue called "Lemmings." Chevy was originally hired as a writer on NBC's new sketch comedy show "Saturday Night" in 1975, but shortly before the first episode he was made a feature player and quickly became a the most popular performer on the show. His early schtick included the opening "Fall of the Week" where Chevy falls in some ridiculous manner, then look up at the camera before he utters "LIVE FROM NEW YORK, IT'S SATURDAY NIGHT." He was also the original anchor on SNL's Weekend Update. He left the show after a season and change to peruse a woman and a movie career, neither of which worked out that well. Classics like the four films in the National Lampoon's "Vacation" series, "Fletch" (and "Fletch Lives") and "Caddyshack" have been negated too many times by crap like "Foul Play," "Funny Farm," or "Cops & Robbersons." After years of releasing movies over seas, not to mention numerous failed talk shows and pilots, Chevy has had a career resurgence playing Pierce Hawthorne on NBC's "Community" since 2009. Happy birthday Cornelius!

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Rush

Not that I usually care too much about the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame, but that very institution has announced its 2013 nominees and I could help but take a look at the list. Pretty eclectic. Some worthy, some I'd like to bury underneath the HOF. Anyways, the nominees include Deep Purple, Heart, Donna Summer, Joan Jett, NWA, Public Enemy, Randy Newman and Rush. Randy Newman? Really? I still don't know how anyone can listen to his voice. He sounds likes [EXPLETIVES DELETED]. I don't see how Rush and Deep Purple don't make it. Mainly since they are the only bands I really listen to but I like the idea Flava Flav there rocking out with Geddy Lee and Ian Gillan whilst Randy plays a bouncy little number on the piano in the corner. The induction ceremony takes place on April 15 in Los Angeles since even Flav wouldn't be caught dead in Cleveland. 

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Later this month, October 21 to be exact, also marks the 20th anniversary of the release of "Reservoir Dogs.'" The directorial debut is now stuff of legends, because of both the rapid fire dialogue and brutal violence within the film, but also how the film miraculously got made. Tarantino had been working at Video Archives video store in Manhattan Beach, California a planned to shoot on a 16mm camera on a budget of $60,000. A script happen to fall off the back of a truck and into the hands of Harvey Keitel, who loved the script and was able to secure an additional $1.5 million in financing. The movie follows the aftermath of a diamond heist by six gangsters and their boss Joe, and his son "Nice Guy" Eddie. One of the six men is a cop who tipped off officers about the heist and the film show the events leading up to the heist in flashbacks, and despite the fact we know who the cop is long before any of the gang members doesn't take away anything from this dark, grisly, and surprisingly funny film, Empire Magazine's "Greatest Independent Film Of All Time."

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news feeds june 19

Nik Wallenda completed his walk across a 5 cm wide cable from the American side of Niagara Falls to the Canadian side. It took him about 25 minutes, and he looked pretty calm during the walk, even fielding questions from his father and an ABC broadcaster. The walk was 550 meters long, and he was just getting peppered with mist from the falls below him. Always the patriotic watchdogs, Canadian officials greeted Wallenda after the walk to inspect his passport, which checked out. "I'm not carrying anything over, I promise, " said Wallenda, completely exhausted. They didn't check out to see if the safety tether was stuffed with narcotics or Philadelphia cheese steaks. Speaking of that tether, it has been a point of controversy, but ABC refused to air a man potentially falling to his death, and I think that's fair. Wallenda went on to say that the tether is extra weight that might throw him off, and although he was initially disappointed about the safety measures, he said it "is what it is." But safety harness or not, he didn't ever come close to falling so it is an incredible feat nonetheless. 

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Well, we're all doomed. Our very own Milky Way galaxy, home to Earth, is on a crash course with the neighbouring Andromeda galaxy in about 3.75 billion years. I'm not saying we should move to another galaxy or anything, but they are thinking that the two galaxies might actually merge and for a super galaxy not unlike some kind of Star Wars or Star Trek scenario. Unfortunately, a galactic merger takes about ten years longer than a corporate one, (two billion years) giving the stars time to realign themselves into new orbits around the super galaxy's new galactic centre. Simulated collision from NASA: CLICK HERE

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An Apple I computer, circa 1976, just sold for $374,500 at an auction in New York this past Friday. The archaic piece of tech history was expected to fetch about $180,000, then doubled when a bidding war broke out between two buyers, then an anonymous telephone bidder phoned in and scooped up the computer. For that price, you could buy 750 iPads, 1880 iPhones or about 650 shares of Apple. The computers were sold at a Silicon Valley computer chain Byte Shop, when the store of Paul Terrell ordered 50 computers at $500 each (retail $666.66) and Steve Wozniak and the late Steve Jobs assembled them in 30 days. The duo also pieced together another 150 to sell to friends and other stores. The Apple I was basically a chipset that had no monitor, keyboard, power supply, casing, but boasted 4KB in memory (which couldn't run a calculator).

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In other tech stuff, Microsoft unveiled their new tablet called "Surface" to go along with their new operating system Windows 8 coming out later this year. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said the new product was the ultimate merger of software and hardware. Ok. The models shown included a kickstand that allows the device to stand up and a cover, that's detachable and equipped with a keyboard. The device is also quite slim, at a mere 9.3 millimetres thick. The tablet is bound to do better than Blackberry's dismal Playbook, and one way they have a good chance of survival is full integration with the Xbox 360, which has sold over 67 million units world wide. Microsoft envisions the tablet as basically the nucleus holding together one's computer, video gaming console and TV. Not a bad idea. Would love to see Apple strike up a deal with Playstation then.. well I don't know what then. It would just be sweet.

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Sir Paul McCartney turned 70 on Monday, and what better way to celebrate his birthday then going over some of the best songs ever written (40ish years ago) by the man himself. Paul has 60 gold albums to his credit, with over a hundred million albums AND singles sold. "Yesterday" from the Beatles 1965 "Help!" album has been covered over 2,200 times - more than any song in history. Did you know Paul McCartney was in a bad before Wings? Old Simpsons joke.. anyways here are my favourite Paul (Beatles) songs in honour of his 70th. Sorry, can't do Wings.

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So, if I'm the only one old enough (or who cares) to remember this, stop me here. But Woody Allen and Mia Farrow got together in 1980, two years after Farrow and her ex-husband adopted an 8 year old Korean girl named Soon-Yi. Woody left Mia for his adopted step daughter in 1992. During this time they had a biological son named Ronan, now 24, who tweeted on father's day "Happy father's day - or as they call it in my family, happy brother-in-law's day." That is.. awesome. I love the Wood-man and pretty much everything he does artistically, whether it's writing, acting or directing, but as a person, he seems to have some baggage.

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I love Family Guy. I do… I know, it's really stupid. Not as well structured as the Simpsons. Not as satirically brilliant as South Park. But something about their sense of humour, just makes me laugh. But, something is wrong with teaming up with Kiss. The two iconic "brands" are coming together for "a line of products." Don't really know what that means, other than there is sure to be Stewie dolls with Peter Criss' cat makeup, and more guest appearances on the show, which has been touched on before, when it turned out that Lois and Gene used to get it on. Kiss have been a self-parody since they got back together in the mid 90s (even tho Ace and Peter left, their make up lives on) and for Family Guy to cross promote with Kiss, and for Seth McFarlane to put out that horrible talking bear movie, "Ted", makes me understand why the quality of Family Guy has declined fairly steadily for the last season or two.

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I just watched the best/worst TV special ever. Although I heard about it through various sources (the Simpsons barbershop quartet episode being the main one), I didn't want to know too much about it, and to spoil the surprise, even though I already knew the ending. I wanted to see it unfold. I'm talking about Geraldo Rivera's opening of Al Capone's vault. As the story goes, Capone moved into a suite the Lexington Hotel in 1928 until his arrest in 1931. In the 1980s, contractors were planning on renovating the old hotel and while they were surveying the building they came upon a series of secret tunnels (apparently one behind Capone's medicine cabinet too). The tunnels connected to nearby taverns and brothel's giving Capone a number of different escape routes. The was also rumoured that a "secret vault" was located beneath the hotel, and sure enough there was. The point of the special was to open the vault and live TV revealing riches, bootlegged booze.. bodies. Who knows what the most powerful gangster in Chicago in the 1930 put in such a vault? So the show starts with medical examiners on hand in case there were bodies on the inside, and agents from the IRS to collect any money that Capone may have left behind (I'm guessing he wasn't big on paying taxes). They finally open the vault to reveal… nothing. There was a bit of dirt, which probably seeped in over the 60 years, and some empty moonshine bottles. Thirty million viewers were left going 'what the hell was that?' as was a stunned Rivera, who just looked at the camera and said that they had "struck out." The special aired in April 1986 and essentially launched Geraldo's career. "My career was not over, I knew, but had just begun. And all because of a silly, high-concept stunt that failed to deliver on its titillating promise."

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