i watched the junos last nite. make fun of me if you want, i dont care. during my short time on this earth, ive noticed that if you travel to other countries, people will always ask about celine dion and bryan adams once they find out you are from canada. i always used to find this embarassing. there is so much canadian music out there that is far better than these two "icons". if you dont believe me, listen to cbc radio 3 online, or your local community/campus radio station. (or come watch my band play in regina april 25th. haha)
however, last nite i found myself shaking my head at least 3 times while watching the junos. Nickelback won three awards. this is a black mark on canadian music as far as i am concerned. these guys make celine and bryan look like gems. "you look better with something in your mouth". that is a line in one of their songs. really?
i have never heard it put better than how Patrick Boyle from calgarys FFWD magazine put it in THIS short letter to chad kroeger and his buddies. read it..you will laugh. i did.
30 March 2009
19 March 2009
breakfast with jack layton part 2
the following is part 2 to my trip. read part 1 first.
i started off.
i got to see some cool cities. san antonio, austin, waco. but the highlight of the trip was probably pulling into oklahoma city and making tyler butel get out of bed to let me crash at his place. it was sweet to see a friend on the journey.
after i left oklahoma city, i popped in "The Shack". apparently its the hot thing these days. i listened as roger mueller read the story. this book is also apparently pretty controversial, although i am still not sure what the big deal is. its a work of fiction, one guys opinion of who God is and how he works. cheesy in some spots. but will likely strike up some conversation. if youve read it, let me know what you think.
anyway, that got me through northern oklahoma and kansas. made a crucial pit stop at Alef's Harley Davidson in wichita. the place was huge.
now i was in nebraska. that sucked. i had only been to nebraska once before and i didnt care for it much then. i was quickly reminded why. as i drove through small towns with signs saying "founded in 1857" i often wondered "who thought it would be a good idea for 210 people to live here. right in the middle of nowhere." it is worse than manitoba...ok, well maybe not that bad. and they did have free pregnancy tests at a clinic. i was too slow with my camera to get a picture but the sign said "Free Pregnancy Tests. Parking in Rear". i chuckled.
south dakota was nicer. hills and vallleys. great sunset. and by the time i got to north dakota it was dark. which is ok with me. i turned north from bismarck and officer 236 decided that i was going to fast. he pulled me over and gave me a 50$ ticket. i am still sure the sign said 75mph not 70. not impressed.
i made it to minot that night and found a hotel and was out before my head hit the pillow.
i drove to the border where i was to meet a guy to import the vehicle (the reason for this whole trip). i beat him there so i decided to head down to the local bar/restaurant/ice cream shop/parcel pick up/ local indoor smoking room where i had breakfast with jack layton. youre right, it was not jack layton at all, but it looked just like him. and i wasnt sitting with him. i was near there table where i heard conversations about wives. one guy piped up "i dont have one of those anymore. i found out she was dating someone else, cashed her out, and asked her to leave". i thought that was a nice way to put it.
anyway, 2198 miles later, im back in saskatoon. tired and smelly. but got to see a lot of country the last few days. check out a few pictures on flickr.
i started off.
i got to see some cool cities. san antonio, austin, waco. but the highlight of the trip was probably pulling into oklahoma city and making tyler butel get out of bed to let me crash at his place. it was sweet to see a friend on the journey.
after i left oklahoma city, i popped in "The Shack". apparently its the hot thing these days. i listened as roger mueller read the story. this book is also apparently pretty controversial, although i am still not sure what the big deal is. its a work of fiction, one guys opinion of who God is and how he works. cheesy in some spots. but will likely strike up some conversation. if youve read it, let me know what you think.
anyway, that got me through northern oklahoma and kansas. made a crucial pit stop at Alef's Harley Davidson in wichita. the place was huge.
now i was in nebraska. that sucked. i had only been to nebraska once before and i didnt care for it much then. i was quickly reminded why. as i drove through small towns with signs saying "founded in 1857" i often wondered "who thought it would be a good idea for 210 people to live here. right in the middle of nowhere." it is worse than manitoba...ok, well maybe not that bad. and they did have free pregnancy tests at a clinic. i was too slow with my camera to get a picture but the sign said "Free Pregnancy Tests. Parking in Rear". i chuckled.
south dakota was nicer. hills and vallleys. great sunset. and by the time i got to north dakota it was dark. which is ok with me. i turned north from bismarck and officer 236 decided that i was going to fast. he pulled me over and gave me a 50$ ticket. i am still sure the sign said 75mph not 70. not impressed.
i made it to minot that night and found a hotel and was out before my head hit the pillow.
i drove to the border where i was to meet a guy to import the vehicle (the reason for this whole trip). i beat him there so i decided to head down to the local bar/restaurant/ice cream shop/parcel pick up/ local indoor smoking room where i had breakfast with jack layton. youre right, it was not jack layton at all, but it looked just like him. and i wasnt sitting with him. i was near there table where i heard conversations about wives. one guy piped up "i dont have one of those anymore. i found out she was dating someone else, cashed her out, and asked her to leave". i thought that was a nice way to put it.
anyway, 2198 miles later, im back in saskatoon. tired and smelly. but got to see a lot of country the last few days. check out a few pictures on flickr.
i had breakfast with jack layton part 1
the following is poorly written account of my trip from saskatoon to mcallen, texas and back.
part 1
it was snowy monday morning in saskatoon, i threw a few things in a bag, mostly a few books on cd, an ipod, a toothbrush and some shorts and hopped on a plane at the airport. after a quick touchdown in regina, we were off too minneapolis. after we landed we had to pass through security as per usual, and as i was putting my shoes back on, i looked behind me to see none other than mr. ochitwa.
now, mr. ochitwa was my grade 7 teacher in white city. i was sure it was him because he had the famous scar on the left side of his mouth where a chainsaw had gotten the better of him. (true story. or at least thats what he told us in grade 7 and i still believe it). we visited briefly and headed off to find or connecting flights. the minneapolis airport loves mcdonalds. everywhere i looked, people were packing away a quarter pounder and fries. awesome.
a few hours past quickly by listening to people on CNN talk about some financial crisis at AIG in the states. i caught only parts of it.
we loaded up the next plane and headed to los angeles. LAX. the airport is like a city. i asked how to find my next flight and proceeded on 20 minute walk outside. it was 10pm and must have been 25C. gorgeous. on my flight from LA to houston, i sat beside chase. chase was living in venice california and was on his way to SXSW (a music festival) in austin, tx. he told me stories of how after buying a 150$ licence you could carry a lot of marijuana on you in california and could even grow your own. apparently i look like someone who would be excited by this. i wasnt. he was a great guy though and even gave me a set of earplugs to use for the red-eye to houston.
i landed in houston, and slept in awkward positions that made my legs numb for the next two hours. my flight to harlingen, texas was late due to the heavy fog that had set. finally we made it to harlingen (look it up on a map-its basically on the mexican border) where bob picked me up to drive to the dealership. bob was a former pro-wrestler. no lies. and in a few weeks he would be having some of his old wrestling buddies come to the dealership to sign autographs and such. wrestlers like doink the clown, rikishi and others i cant remember. he told me the hollywood lifestyle he lived as a wrestler and how in mexico when they recognized him they let him drink on the streets and would even bring him tequila. great guy. good stories.
i was finally in texas.. almost 24 hours after i left saskatoon.
the only problem was i was in texas. i dont love texas. but i do love tacos. and i found some great ones.
it scares me that i could cut someone off while driving, and make them mad. its not good to make people carrying firearms in their vehicles angry.
now i had about 2198 miles to drive. thats like 3500km for those of you like me who dont know what a mile is.
part 1
it was snowy monday morning in saskatoon, i threw a few things in a bag, mostly a few books on cd, an ipod, a toothbrush and some shorts and hopped on a plane at the airport. after a quick touchdown in regina, we were off too minneapolis. after we landed we had to pass through security as per usual, and as i was putting my shoes back on, i looked behind me to see none other than mr. ochitwa.
now, mr. ochitwa was my grade 7 teacher in white city. i was sure it was him because he had the famous scar on the left side of his mouth where a chainsaw had gotten the better of him. (true story. or at least thats what he told us in grade 7 and i still believe it). we visited briefly and headed off to find or connecting flights. the minneapolis airport loves mcdonalds. everywhere i looked, people were packing away a quarter pounder and fries. awesome.
a few hours past quickly by listening to people on CNN talk about some financial crisis at AIG in the states. i caught only parts of it.
we loaded up the next plane and headed to los angeles. LAX. the airport is like a city. i asked how to find my next flight and proceeded on 20 minute walk outside. it was 10pm and must have been 25C. gorgeous. on my flight from LA to houston, i sat beside chase. chase was living in venice california and was on his way to SXSW (a music festival) in austin, tx. he told me stories of how after buying a 150$ licence you could carry a lot of marijuana on you in california and could even grow your own. apparently i look like someone who would be excited by this. i wasnt. he was a great guy though and even gave me a set of earplugs to use for the red-eye to houston.
i landed in houston, and slept in awkward positions that made my legs numb for the next two hours. my flight to harlingen, texas was late due to the heavy fog that had set. finally we made it to harlingen (look it up on a map-its basically on the mexican border) where bob picked me up to drive to the dealership. bob was a former pro-wrestler. no lies. and in a few weeks he would be having some of his old wrestling buddies come to the dealership to sign autographs and such. wrestlers like doink the clown, rikishi and others i cant remember. he told me the hollywood lifestyle he lived as a wrestler and how in mexico when they recognized him they let him drink on the streets and would even bring him tequila. great guy. good stories.
i was finally in texas.. almost 24 hours after i left saskatoon.
the only problem was i was in texas. i dont love texas. but i do love tacos. and i found some great ones.
it scares me that i could cut someone off while driving, and make them mad. its not good to make people carrying firearms in their vehicles angry.
now i had about 2198 miles to drive. thats like 3500km for those of you like me who dont know what a mile is.
12 March 2009
Propagandhi-Supporting Caste
on tuesday, one of my all time favorite bands put out a brand new album after almost 4 years since their last one. i saw them play about a year and half ago here in saskatoon and it was one of the best shows ive ever seen. so i felt like i was about 15 years old waiting for march 10th to come when i could run down to the record store and pick up the newest release.
i remember in high school my dad read some of their lyrics or essays they had on their website and wasn't very impressed, so my old band wrote a song about it called "my dad hates propagandhi". it had nothing to do with my dad hating propagandhi at all. it was probably about some lame girl stealing one of our friends or something. anyway, back to the matter at hand...
you may not agree with everything these guys say, and you dont have too. but they have done a lot to make this world a better place. one cool idea they had was instead of leaking their songs around the internet before they were released (which probably still happened) they set up a site where you could download two, for a small donation to your choice of humanitarian effort.
anyway, their music is incredible, and their lyrics make you think and give you insight into some things that are going on in the world around you which you likely wont hear about on CNN or CTV.
if you are bored at work, go check out their website, they have a good list of books to read that may give you a different spin on things.
anyway. this record is great. i cant wait till they drive through my city.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
