news feeds oct 22

Tonight is the third and final debate leading up to the November election between  incumbent Barack and challenger Mitt Romney is what has already been dubbed "Get It On In Boca Raton," named after a popular local slogan. Obama was much better prepared for the second town hall style debate after being shown up pretty bad at the first one. The third one they will be sitting at a table with moderator Bob Schieffer (CBS News) acting as referee. The key issues will be on foreign policy (in particular current situation in Libya and Iran) with most experts saying Barack to have an edge on the issue since incumbents have access to more privileged intelligence and get more comp trips than senators. If you can peel yourself away from the Bears and Lions Monday Nighter game then take in a minute or two of the debate. Or switch over to the Giants and Cardinals game.

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If you use AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner or Verizon as your internet provider and you enjoy downloading episode of Seinfeld via Bit Torrent, you could be getting a threatening letter. That's right.. after years of trying to impose legislature against illegal downloads, they have taken their first step. First time offenders get a mild warning which also includes information to steer the guilty party away from a life of crime (what? really?). After the 'educational' phase of the warnings, if material is still downloaded illegally then they slow (throttle) your internet connection down so you can't download large files. Terminating the internet service to a customer does still appear unlikely however since copyright infringement is alright so long as you don't miss paying the bill by two days (in which case it will be promptly cancelled.)

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I had to make sure that I finished the entire series of Peep Show (seven seasons) before November 9th since, hallelujah, there is going to be a new season debuting on that very day. The show is basically a take on old Odd Couple premise with David Mitchell's Mark Corrigan playing Jack Lemmon's Felix, and Robert Webb's Jez (Jeremy) playing Walter Matthau's Oscar. Throw in the best bits of the British version of The Office (after all Mark works in a similar work place, JLB Credit), and constant interior thoughts of the two main characters and you have absolute comedy gold. From pee dripping through floorboards at a wedding, to eating a semi-charred dog or even helping a bandmate score some crack this is definitely one of the funniest shows I have ever seen. Again, season 8 starts November 9!

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Say it ain't so Lance! I have tried to years to always take him at his word. He seemed honest enough, and you always seem to have sympathy for a man with one testicle. It appears the evidence is stacked too highly against him, and in the wake of him stepping down from his own charity, being stripped of his Tour De France titles and losing his endorsements, his credibility seems to have been blown to hell. Too bad, he was a real source of inspiration for, well for people looking for that sort of thing in a cyclist. "Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling and he deserves to be forgotten in cycling," said Pat McQuaid, the president of the Union Cycliste Internationale. Remember Lance's scene in the movie Dodgeball? It was great.

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The Red Sox have gotten their man, finally. After their worst record since the 60s, Boston axed skipper Bobby Valentine after one nightmarish season. John Farrell had been Boston pitching coach prior to being named as Blue Jays manager before the 2011 season. Boston had tried to hire him before this season but the Blue Jays were reluctant to let him go to a divisional rival. But after the Jays had a season almost as bad as the Red Sox (and with just one year left on Farrell's contract) Jays GM Alex Anthopolous was more open to the lateral divisional more and picked up Mike Aviles from Boston as compensation. Farrell pitched for the Indians, Angels, and Tigers over his seven year career cut short by injury. Welcome back to Boston, John!

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The American League champion Detroit Tigers are waiting to see whether they are headed to St. Louis or San Francisco for the start of the World Series on Wednesday night. Game 7 of the NLCS between the Giants and Cardinals goes tonight in San Francisco to see who gets to represent the National League in a face-off again the powerful Tigers. Pitching for the Giants tonight is ace Matt Cain facing off against St. Louis Cardinals' right-hander Kyle Lohse who, over 18 innings has given up four runs of a tidy ERA of 1.96 while Cain's number show he's been roughed up a bit more to the tune of 9 earned runs allowed over 17 innings. First pitch is tonight at 8:07 at AT&T Park.  In a semi-related note: Remember the season Melky Cabrera was having for the Giants? He was leading the league in batting average and was the All Star Game MVP then he got a 50 game suspension by the MLB, and despite eligibility to be reinstated, he was left off the Giants playoff roster. The interesting part is that his heroics in the All Star Game guaranteed home field advantage for the National League champions, possibly the Giants. So he's even helping them while not being in the line-up. That's a dynamic player. Just saying..

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There's no hockey on. We know that. One year ago tonight, was a night the Leafs played the Canadiens in Montreal and Toronto won 5-4 on a gorgeous goal by Grabovski in overtime. Other Leaf scorers were David Steckel, Phil Kessel, Dion Phaneuf and Nik Kulemin. Anyways, here is some highlights from the game for a mild hockey fix.

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Song.

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 oct 3: part 1

The economy. The burning issue in tonight's first presidential debate ahead of this November's election. For Mitt Romney to beat Obama in the debate is to show to his supporters and people on the fence is to "paint a compelling picture of a better economic future and why he can lead us there and President Obama can't," GOP pollster Whit Ayres told CNN. But Romney's major test may be to stand beside the current president and look and sound like a "credible alternative," to sound like a President. Obama advisers are worried that the president is too smug, dismissive and short regarding how his economic policies have been going over during his first term. So the key for him seems to be indicating how the next four years would be different without adding any fuel to Romney's economic fire.

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Getting bullied into taking the job hopefully doesn't mean you will bullied at the job… right? Justin Trudeau has dove headfirst into the Liberal Party leadership on Tuesday. I'm assuming his surname alone is enough to get him to be the Liberal leader, particularly for a party that basically had their asses handed to them after the 2011 election. We all expected this as an inevitability, but maybe a touch too soon considering he is four years into his political career, and with all due respect, is not experienced enough to lead a party or a nation. The community hall was packed (well beyond its 500 person capacity) in Trudeau's riding of Papineau to hear the party's rockstar announce his candidacy. A much more subdued Trudeau told supporters "I said to the Liberals after the last election that we need to get past this idea that a simple leadership change could fix our problems. I believe that still. My candidacy may shine a few extra lights upon us. It may put some people in the bleachers. But what we have to go with this opportunity is up to us - all of us." Trudeau has been accused since making the jump from school teacher to politics, that he is a man of more flash than substance. Trudeau dismissed his past criticisms by noting "it is time for us, for this generation of Canadians, to put away childish things. More, it is time for all of us to come together and get down to the very serious, very adult business of building a better country." Considering how influential, brilliant and downright cool his father was, I have no doubts that in time Justin could make a great PM and party leader. But is he being brought along too fast? At least Ben Mulroney isn't running.

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Apparently, the iPhone 5 has been taking pictures with purple hues on them. If there is a strong light source, like say, the sun, the resulting picture is purple. Apple claims that is the nature of the camera if such a light source is in the photo. Online geek forum over at Anandtech have over 180 comments complaining about the purple hue. "I have take 20,000+ photos on my 4S, not once had this happen." This issue along with the debacle in the maps (it will be better soon.. don't worry. geez) proves that no launch is without its troubles, no matter how awesome the device. Remember when the iPhone 4 came out and if your finger was on the bottom right corner when you held it up to your ear the volume became low or just dropped calls all together? In other Apple news, the iPad Mini has went into mass production and although it hasn't officially been announced it is said to have a 7.85" screen and its lower price point is set to compete with the Google Nexus 7, the Kindle Fire and the Nook HD tablet computers. Analysts figure October 17 as the announcement date (there's analysts working on that?) with a release shortly thereafter. 

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In a semi-Apple related story, Edwin Land, founder of the Polaroid Corporation predicted an iPhone like device in 1970. Land was an American inventor and scientist who invented the Polaroid camera which made it possible for a photograph to be developed in under 60 seconds. The cameras first went on sale in 1948. Polaroid's first major success was in 1965's "Swinger" model, the first inexpensive instant camera which retailed at $19.95. His greatest triumph was the Polaroid SX-70, the classic Polaroid camera with the film coming out of the front released in 1972. Edwin Land was also the showman type; the annual Polaroid meeting was more like a revue than a meeting of suits, with him getting up on stage showing off new Polaroid devices making everyone single person in the audience want one. In short film he made for employees, he outlined what he felt the future of photography was. In what must have seemed like something out of a Star Trek episode, Land described a device that was "something like a telephone, something you can use all day long, whenever an occasion arises in which you cannot trust your memory… you'd use it as often as you pencil or your eyeglasses." He also mentioned that cameras would be much smaller and that you'd be able to share picture instantly. Link to video HERE! And for S&G's here the first "Swinger" commercial from 1965:

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Total Recall

What is going on with food these days? Sometimes I'm glad to not eat meat. Canada is in the midst of the biggest beef recall in Canadian history following yet another E. coli outbreak, the first case that of a young Alberta girl who fell ill on September 4. An official health warning was issued in Canada on September 16 and in the United States on September 20. There has been five illnesses linked to an Edmonton meat processing plant, which now has its license temporarily suspended pending an investigation by health officials. Alberta premier Alison Redford blindly swore that the beef from Alberta is safe for consumption, saying "We are very proud in this province that we grow and breed a high quality product that is marketed around the world. It is produced to the highest standards possible and that it is a safe source of protein in Alberta, in Canada and around the world. Even vegetarians aren't safe now with that delicious Popcorn Indiana kettlecorn has been tacked off the market due to possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination causing.. listeriosis. You can't eat anything anymore.

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news feeds june 10

Well duh. Obama held a press conference to declare the the American economy "is not doing fine." While he said the private sector was doing good, where they were seeing weakness "have to do with state and local government, oftentimes cuts initiated by, you know, governors or mayors who are not getting the kind of help that they have in the past…" Yada yada. Does it really matter? Holding a press conference to declare an obvious point seems pretty redundant, and of course Mitt Romney wasted no time commenting on the president's statement by asking if the president was "really that out of touch." Sounds like he's pretty in touch, since the economy is basically a nightmare. But you know, another six months of spending on their respective campaigns leading up to the election will help. 

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Can't make this up. Here's ten uses for a tampon in the wild (the Swiss Army Tampon) by artofmanliness.com. I'll just list them since they are all awesome and no jokes are required, because who are we kidding, this story is a walking punchline. #1: Medical Bandage. A tampon is perfect bandage because they are well packaged in waterproof sleeves and by design are ultra absorbent. Accounts of this use for the hygiene product dates back to World War 1. #2: Water Filter. It is able to filter out sediments and floating particles, but it probably won't knock out "biological, chemical or heavy metal threats." Cool. #3: Fire tinder. Cotton burns like wild fire, and when the dry cotton fibres of a tampon are pulled apart and hit with the slightest spark it will burn beautifully. Apparently adding chapstick, or vasoline to the cotton you have an even better firestarter. Ok! Next #4: Straw filter. This looks like a large marijuana 'bat' shaped cigarette, but you can filter water from a puddle with it. You won't be stoned, but you won't be thirsty either. #5: "Wick for improvised candle." Alright this gets a little "Survivor Man" but apparently you can make a candle out of animal fat and fresh "mussel shell" (Alright then). I knew the strings on the end of those things had another use. #6: Cordage. Ummm "The string attached to a tampon is a cotton twisted cord typically made up of several 4-6" pieces of twine. Though it's not much, it is useable cordage." So in the example of this use on the website, they have a trap set up to catch you dinner. I'm a vegetarian so unless is can gather a crop of broccoli, they may be useless. And it's not enough to hang yourself. Just an FYI. #7: Blow Dart Fetching. Whatever that means. Apparently tho, the blow gun has been around for thousands of years, and the tampon cotton can make a perfect feather (or "fletching") for the end of your dart for a blow gun. "8: Blow Tube. Ya, so instead of sucking in like #4, you blow out, usually to revive coals from the previous evening. Not too sure what the difference is from just blowing on the coals and blowing on the coals through a tampon, but apparently there is. #9: Waterproof Match & Fire Tinder Case. When you are in a damp, wet situation, in the woods, with a tampon you can keep your fire starting tools like matches and tinder dry by using the waterproof packaging. Fold it over, use the tampon string to tie it up! And #10: Fishing Bobber. "Make the bobber with the tampon package/sleeve by folding over and tying off the top to create a little bubble that will float you bait." You for once don't have to feel bad about combining the terms "fish" and "tampon" in the same sentence. Cheap joke, I know. Next time you are out buying your water purification tablets and SPAM for your survival kit, will you include a box of tampons?

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$8.64??

Are you sick of the food prices in Toronto or wherever you are? Take a look-see at what's going on in Nunavet right now. Or at least it has been brought to our attention now. Thousands of Inuit have been pictures of food items along with their price tags to show how ridiculous it is to get food in Canada's newest territory. A case of ginger ale will run you $82, while a head of cabbage could run you $20. Over 10,000 people have joined the Facebook site called "Feed My Family" which accounts for over a third of Nunavut's population. They also are among Canada's poorest with half of the adults in the territory make under 20,000 per year, and a three person family, a mother, father and child spends up to 500-600 per week on groceries. Pretty weak.

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Tommy Chong is fighting prostate cancer. The 74 year old stoner claims he started noticing the symptoms while he was in jail for selling drug paraphernalia eight years ago, and since he noticed the symptoms when he was clean then "it's not because of the cannabis". In fact, he now used pot as a cure. Chong no longer smokes marijuana but he ingests hemp oil in the evenings. "I'm taking it as a medicine," he said noting "So legalizing marijuana means a lot more to me than just being able to smoke a joint and not get arrested." Tommy Chong and his partner Cheech Marin released several comedy albums in the 70s before hitting the big screen in 1978's "Up In Smoke", the first in several adventures of the pair. After the duo broke up, Chong found a regular gig as Leo from seasons 2-8 of Fox's That's 70's Show. Listen to Cheech & Chong's "Earache In My Eye" below!

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After getting a bum deal in a botched overtime call the other night, the Toronto Marlies bowed out of the Calder Cup final without a whimper, losing 6-1 to the Norfolk Admirals. It actually was  a pretty close game until the third period, but Norfolk proved too dominating, tough and determined to be denied the championship in the minimum four games. With the Marlies trailing 3-1 in the third, Toronto had a power play with just over nine minutes left and Marlies coach Dallas Eakins pulled goalie Ben Scrivens for a 6-4 advantage.. it was a gamble, and Norfolk tucked in an empty netter to go up 4-1. At that point all the cards had been laid on the table and Norfolk tacked on a couple late ones to pad the score. It is Norfolk's first AHL championship in their 12 year history. The NHL playoffs got a lot more interesting after the Devils beat the Kings in their game four matchup in Jersey Saturday night. All the pressure is now on Los Angeles with game 6 slated for Monday night. LA will be in deep trouble if they lose at home in a clinching game for a second time.

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LOSING! Could Charlie Sheen get any cooler? Atfer taking in some game four action in Los Angeles, the rockstar from Mars was denied re-entry into the Staples Centre after sliding outside of a smoke. So, what do the Devils do? They tweet to Charlie Sheen: "We'll treat you w/courtesy & common sense @CharlieSheen come to the game tomorrow we have a great staff & a smoking gallery." Still no word weather Charlie took in tonight's game in Newark since I'm writing this at 7am and he's probably still out. WINNING!

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