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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