Quantum of Solace

So I saw the new Bond movie (Quantum of Solace, for those of you who live under rocks) and I really liked it. It isn't as good as Casino Royale was, but its still very entertaining. The new Bond girl is incredibly good looking, the entire movie is fast and lots of fun.

I did have a couple issues with it. First, it needed an extra 10-15 minutes, sometimes it was too fast, and Dominic Greene is never really developed to the same level as other Bond villains were. Second, sometimes it needed to slow itself down. The opening scene was very good, but if it had been a little slower and easier to follow, it would have been incredible. But probably my 2 biggest problems with the movie was that the theme song and its animation were kind of lame, they dragged and sapped the energy that came out of the opening chase. Also there was a rediculous scene involving planes, i'll leave it at that.

My favourite part (besides Olga Kurylenko as Camille) has to be the opera scene, I'll try not to ruin it, but it is incredible cinematography. (Fun fact, apparently the opera playing in the scene is about a woman who betrays her lover. Vesper anyone?).

Daniel Craig has another excellent performance as Bond.

Overall, it's a worthy movie, and an excellent way to spend 105 minutes. It's fun, but it is no Casino Royale. See it.

It's Done!

It's finally over!
Obama's the man.
Right on.
Good stuff America.
Thanks for not fucking it up.

Why do all the CNN.com Live reporters have English accents?

Can The Election Be Over, Please?

Well, the American election is tomorrow, and hopefully we'll know the winner before December. Now, I have to say, I have been pretty unhappy with a whole lot about this campaign. First off, both candidates swore that they would rise above the politics off division, and keep this a campaign clean. Now, maybe I was naïve to even have a flutter of hope for such a possibility, but it was a letdown nevertheless to see the campaign degenerate into what was seen in September and October. Both campaigns spent unprecedented amounts of money on negative adds, many of which were extraordinarily dishonest. And the media didn't help in the least, instead of pouncing on both campaigns and condemning the bullshit, they jumped to every rumour as if it needed verifying, no matter how outlandish the claim. In fact, it seemed like the media felt an obligation to investigate any claim whatsoever, regardless of the source.

Next, Joe the Plumber. I never want to hear about Joe the Plumber again. I don't care about his back taxes, being unlicensed, who he's voting for and why, I just don't care. This guy has been flaunted by the McCain campaign, pranced in front of the media, hell he's given more interviews than Sarah Palin. And what are his political credentials? He disagreed with Obama. To his face. On camera. Apparently that is all it takes to become a political expert in the United States these days. Not to mention an expert on tax policy. No, every time he's pulled out in front of the cameras, I can't help feeling bad for the guy. Because, every time, he just shows that he doesn't understand tax policy, or foreign policy, and each time looks more and more like a knee-jerk republican. Now, I don't want to say that he's dumb, in fact I'd say he isn't (hell, he can run a plumbing business successfully, licensed or not). What I want to say is that he has no business being a pseudo political commentator.

I also can't stand Sarah Palin. She is a perfect example of everything that has gone horribly wrong with the Republican party. Seriously, how the hell did they get to the point where someone so incredibly uninformed (and probably scarier, so uninterested) about how the world works manage to become a Vice Presidential candidate? It scares me when I see videos of her supporters saying they like her because "she's full of the holy spirit". Frankly, I don't see how the Republican Party got sucked into the 'values at any cost' crowd, but it did, and Palin is proof of this. As soon as she was announced as the candidate, anyone who didn't lower the bar of what is acceptable, or bend over backwards to accommodate her incompetence was "sexist". That's right, Sarah Palin made it sexist to hold female politicians to the same standard as male ones. She also, more recently, showed an incredible misunderstanding of first amendment rights. She said that media criticism of the crazy things she says is a violation of her first amendment (freedom of speech) rights. Basically implying that the media shouldn't be allowed to criticize people in positions of power. For reference, here is a quick synopsis (which I borrowed from www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html, emphasis mine) of the first amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances".

Now for those of you who aren't morons, it might look like that handy little amendment assures the media (or "press") the right to say whatever the hell it wants, including having negative coverage of statements made by people in positions of power, and who are trying to get into a position of greater power. Seems reasonable if you live somewhere where the citizens are allowed to have information regarding the beliefs of their government officials. But in Palin-land, that amendment means that she can say whatever she wants, and the media shouldn't tell us that its all crazy-talk. Until the Republicans can get rid of the loony religious fringe as a major force in their party, they will have a lot of trouble.

Palin also likes to run her mouth about things that she should be called on. Like the whole "pallin' around with terrorists" thing. If she makes such a big deal about an incidental acquaintance, then someone should be making an even bigger deal about her (much closer) ties to the Alaskan Independence Party. But if they did, it would be all "liberal media" this and "bias" that. Also, how can she call Obama a marxist when 1)Adam Smith, the father of Capitalism, advocated a graduated income tax; and 2)She redistributes wealth all the time in Alaska. You know, with that whole windfall tax on the oil companies that she has? Yeah, the one that she uses to send a cheque to every Alaskan for a couple thousand dollars. And they don't have to do anything for it, they get it just for being alive and in Alaska (though one might argue that those are mutually exclusive). If that isn't way closer to marxism than a regular income tax, I don't know what is.

And the last thing that I hate about this election (that I'm going to write about right now) is swing states. I understand their political importance with the whole electoral college thing they have (woohoo winning without the popular vote!), they just got mentioned way too much, and nobody ever says anything interesting about them. Always sort of like this: "Well, it could really go either way, and that would have an effect on the general election". Thanks, Captain Obvious. Just tell us that once, either at the beginning, or near the end, and be done with it. I don't need to hear about swing states for 65 consecutive days.

And what's my favourite thing about this election?

It's almost over.

Just on the end, I would like to point out that there are universities with more students in residence than Wasilla has residents. Or even residents and polar bears combined.

I Was Right.

I would just like to brag a little that the (fucking pointless) Canadian election went exactly as I predicted. Conservatives win a large minority, Liberals down a bunch, NDP up. Greens still non-existent. I'm still bothered by this election though, for several reasons. First, seeing as there were no issues (except that the Conservatives started like 10-15 points up in the polls) was it really worth spending over 200 million dollars (the cost of the 1997 & 2000 elections) to maintain the status quo? We are still dealing with a minority government (though, if the last time is any indication, it will be able to act as a majority). Second, why are us Canadians so apathetic that we gave such a strong minority to one of the least transparent and accountable governments in the last 40 years? Third, why was it never made an issue that the Conservatives violated their own election law (for fixed elections, next one due in 2009) to call this election?
Oh well, like I said, it was a nothing changes election.
In important news, there's a new "Hockey Night in Canada" theme song. Also Apple brought out new MacBooks and they look awesome. Already my 2 month old white one is looking a little inadequate.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Not much else to say, I'm just enjoying a long weekend back home in Toronto.

P.S. All you Canadians better remember to vote on Tuesday. Even though new MacBooks are coming out.

A Tale of Two Debates

After careful reflection, I've decided that the Canadian leader's debate was a much more informative debate than the American V.P. debate. The Canadian debate allowed its viewers to get a much better view of the candidates than the American one. Instead of the rigid, timed presentation of topics of the American debate, the Canadian debate had a more fluid, free rolling structure. Let's be honest, for most of the American debate, only the person speaking really had to be there. There was very little opportunity to refute, rebut, or just plain argue. It allowed both debaters to stick to scripted responses and a small set of talking points. The Canadian debate forced the participants to think on their feet and react immediately to what was being said. The participants had the opportunity to challenge statements made as they were being said, not wait patiently for the moderator to let them talk. This meant that they also had to defend their positions, not merely state them.

Just for anyone who doesn't know how the formats were different, the American debate had Biden and Palin standing at podiums, pretty much ignoring each other while they threw out prepared talking points, only occasionally taking one another to task, and always having to wait for the moderator to let them speak. In the Canadian debate, all the major party leaders were sitting around a round table, and the moderator was really only there to make sure everyone got a turn, and to intervene if it got too heated (though at one point near the end he was yelling too). The debate was guided by a series of 8 questions, and as long as everyone got the chance to state their position on a question, the conversation/argument was allowed to flow naturally. Of course it led to yelling, finger pointing, leaning across the table and such, but it let viewers get a good feeling of the ability of each participant, as well as a good measure of how articulate they are. Also, if any one of the leaders had any sort of weakness in their knowledge of a topic, it was quickly, and brutally exposed and exploited. A wonderful contrast to the American debate where Palin managed to "hold her own" despite appearing very poorly knowledgeable about pretty much everything.

Debatable

So, I watched part of both the Canadian and the American debates last night. I have to say, the Canadian one was way more entertaining, they had kind of a round table, so everyone was facing each other, and the format allowed them to get into spirited arguments. The American vice presidential debate, on the other hand, was so dull as to be almost painful to watch at times.

Coming out of the Canadian debate, here is what I think of the leaders:

Elizabeth May: more competent than I expected, but sort of waffling between supporting and opposing the Liberals.

Jack Layton: Spirited and interesting to watch, but he's moved his party to far to the centre to really distinguish them from the Liberals on anything except knee-jerk issues. And the Liberals get elected sometimes.

Gilles Duceppe: Again, spirited, but he is struggling to keep his party relevant. And not quite managing to.

Stéphane Dion: Smarter and better organized than he gets credit for, but his thick accent, and mild speech impediment hindered his performance. He was very energetic though.

Stephen Harper: Still not convinced that he's not a robot. When someone criticized how he handled various situations, he looked like he was counting the ways he could kill them with whatever was in arms reach. Not including his built-in weapons systems.

All the leaders (except Harper, who was born without emotions) did appear to be very spirited and intense. Overall, I was impressed.

I'm still not really interested in this election, however. Nothing has really changed in the political climate since the last election. This is not an "issues" election, or even a "culture war" election. This is an apathy election. Harper threw a hissy fit, called an election, and the public doesn't care. The Conservatives are going to win a minority, picking up a little ground in Quebec and Ontario. The Liberals will lose a little ground, NDP will gain, Bloc will lose, Greens will win one seat. Tops. I think the election after this one will be much more interesting.

As for the American debate, my quick opinion is this:

Biden: Jesus, this guy was sharp, he answered all the questions, he hammered his opponent, and he stayed on message without getting flustered.

Palin: Did far better than I expected, but mostly because the format of the debate allowed her to get away with not actually answering anything. She was fluid, funny, and energetic, but she rarely actually answered a question. She would change topics (back to energy), even if the new topic had nothing to do with the old one.

I noticed this morning some people were calling the debate a win for Palin, because she managed to hold her own. That is bullshit. I'll give credit where credit is due, Biden did a great job, and Palin managed not to get steamrolled. Is my opinion of Palin better? No. In all honesty, it seemed like she had a few static talking points, and key words that she managed to stick to, even if they didn't really relate to the question. She frequently made points that were easily countered or disproven by Biden. The only time she said something that he couldn't respond to is when she got the last word on a question. She dodged issues, discounted Bush's policies, only to promote them later, made mistakes. She got flustered, sometimes her sentences just did not make sense. It was not a strong debate showing, but somehow the Republicans and the media have managed to convince people that it is ok to have expectations so low that her performance was better than expected. Sometimes when she spoke it sounded more like she was running for a high school student council than for vice FUCKING president. Doggoneit. It also bothers me how anyone who criticizes her is going to get hammered for being too "hard" on her. If honest criticism is being to hard on someone, they are not prepared to be vice president. If asking policy related questions is too hard on someone, they are not prepared to be vice president. Let's face it, Sarah Palin has no business being a heartbeat away from the presidency. However it is true,  she does get more adorable when she's cornered in a question. 

Give me 700 Billion Instead

I want 700 Billion dollars.

I know everybody is talking about it, but I just can't get over the sheer size of that number.

700 Billion Dollars.

That is about 350 Space Shuttles.

Or a whole bunch of other more important, but less cool, things.

You could buy half of Canada for that.

I haven't really decided where I stand on the bailout of the American financial institutions. For me, it comes down to two big issues, but the problem is, they are on opposite sides of the bailout idea.

On one hand, without some sort of action, the American economy might collapse. Bad thing.

On the other hand, bailing out the financial institutions who's own shitty business practices created this whole mess is also bad. Why? Because it tells those institutions something that goes against what I've been told all my life. It tells them that they are not responsible for their actions. It tells them that no matter what they do, and how they screw up, the taxpayer will foot the bill. The government will always bail them out. In fact, by letting Lehman brothers fail, but helping AIG, the American government has told these companies that the bigger they fuck up, the more likely they are to get bailed out of it. This is a dangerous mindset for the people who run those companies to be allowed to have. It promotes recklessness, and will only lead to bigger such events further down the road.

Whether the bailout happens or not, the financial industry needs more regulation, careful regulation. I know that people are going to bitch and complain about that and say that they can make more money without regulation. That is true, they can, they can also lose more money much faster.

Does the Media Suck All the Time, Or Just at Election TIme?

There is a problem in this Canadian election, and it is exactly the opposite of one of the problems in the American one. The problem in both cases is the media, but while the American media has turned their election into an absolute circus, the Canadian media seems to have chosen to ignore our election.

As someone who plans on voting, and who likes to know what I'm voting for, I thought I'd look around and see what I can find out about the various parties and their positions on certain issues. Of course, the websites that the political parties run are pretty much bullshit because they want to win, so I thought I'd go through the media. Boy was I, disappointed.

Take the CBC's website as an example. No mention of the election on the front page of the site. In the news section? The first visible item is a history of campaign gaffes. Only one was from this campaign. Next you have to scroll past the "Things that go Pop! Sex in the City: The Teenage Years" link and picture to get to a "Canada Votes" banner. The banner is noticeably smaller and less visible than the E-Bay add next to it. The three showcase election stories today? A biased opinion on the election promises of the smallest national party. Another section on campaign gaffes, and finally, a quiz.

This is the sort of content that our "national broadcaster" gives us about our own federal election. At least the Americans get interesting substance-less crap. How is a member of the public (A.K.A'd as voters) supposed to make an informed opinion on election day if this is the junk that gets fed to them?

Now, I took into account that the CBC might just be incompetent, so I looked at some other sites too.

Next site: CTV

Unlike the CBC's site, on this one the first election related is right near the top. On the right side. In a box about the size of the top joints of both my thumbs next to each other. It's an opinion poll. About the American election. The next item is right below it, in a slightly smaller box. This box raises a promising question: what is the most underreported campaign issue? My mouse pointer quivers in anticipation for what this link might unveil. Perhaps a few paragraphs on some important, but unglamorous issue? Foolish of me, I know, because what I should have been expecting is a video sent in by a grade 9 class. Finally I find the link to their special election centre page. Instantly there are 3 things on the page vying for the eye's attention. First, right at the top is a banner ad for the new season of Criminal minds. That add leads nicely into the box add below it and to the right that is showcasing CTV's online video player. I never have to worry about missing "Gossip Girls" again! The third thing that stands out is a picture (with no link to a story) of Stephen Harper autographing a sign.

Right, CityTV up next.

Nothing on the front page, but they don't really bill themselves as a full news service, so I'll click over to the News tab. Finally! The very first news item is about the election! Once again, I click. And find myself reading an article about an opinion poll. No help there, so I go back to the news page. I'm bombarded by adds for "Breakfast Television", or "BTV" as they call it now. God damn those morning hosts have creepy, other-worldly smiles. Those empty stares, and chipper attitudes so early in the day, maybe it's because I don't smile before 2pm as a matter of principle, but something about those hosts just creeps me out. Anyways, the rest of the news site has absolutely zilch of value when it comes to the election. Well, not quite, there is an add reminding us to vote, and it links to election.ca which tells you how to vote and the such, which is nice, but it isn't a source for information about the parties.

Next was the National Post, which was refreshing at first because there was a big "ELECTION 2008" banner right under the headline story. There were, however, only 2 stories under that banner. One was telling us that the Liberal leader says the Conservative leader is a liar (not so directly, but that was the gist of it) and then goes into talking about opinion polls. Next story was just flat out about an opinion poll.

Don't journalists (also known as REPORTERS) get paid to give us information? Shouldn't they be informing the electorate? You know, so come election day we actually have a chance of voting for someone who shares our views? But no, the Canadian news media has decided to give us unsubstantial crap about opinion polls. The run opinion pieces, they tell us who the pollsters expect to win, but when push comes to shove, they never really tell us what we are voting for when we put a mark next to a candidate's name.

Still no Internet, But Lots of Stupid Politics

Well, unfortunately I'm still waiting for my new internet to work, so I've been jumping from one wi-fi hotspot to another lately. I never realized how much I depend on the internet in my day-to-day life until I had to go this long without consistent access. It's almost like part of my awareness has been amputated.

In political stuff, because that seems to be all that has been happening lately, the polls look like Canadians aren't going to give the Conservatives a majority. Periodically, they slip close to majority territory, and then it seems like people realize "oh wait, that would suck" and change who they say they're going to vote for. I actually wouldn't really mind a conservative minority, as long as the opposition parties aren't total lame asses in the next government. Seriously, this time around a preschool class in opposition would have been more productive. The opposition allowed the Conservatives to almost act as if they were a majority government, and a lot of things that Canadians care about are suffering because of it.

As for south of the border, it seems like the shine has come off Palin. It was weird, overnight it went from her being inexperienced to all of a sudden she's a reformer and fiery. Now her honeymoon is over and people have noticed that she's crazy again. She holds positions that even Bush has given up. In her first interview, she didn't even know what the "Bush Doctrine" is. I know a lot of people who have been in much less important positions who can tell you. (By the way, it's a blanket statement referring to his post 9/11 foreign policy, including the idea of a unilateral preventative war). She doesn't understand the economy. Probably most worrying to me is that she runs her government in Alaska in a very Bush-ian fashion. Instead of hiring people with experience, she hires people she knows and people who agree with her. And lets not forget the investigation into her abuses of power as governor. And the fact that her staffers are refusing to comply with subpoenas to testify. Is this really the person you want as vice president? Though, she does seem to fit in with what is being recognized as the least honest presidential campaign in recent history.

What Happened to Politics?

Just another quickie, more of a question really.

What ever happened to politicians and political parties running campaigns based on actual issues instead of just slagging the opponent. It used to be that election campaigns were a mix of insults and issue talk. You know, so there's a chance of someone making an informed opinion. It seems like during this year's campaigns (both in the United States and Canada) the fear-mongering, self delusion, and insults are the only things that make it into the media. I think Obama is trying to make this an issue election of course, as he is a politician, it might just be because Democrats have never been as good at fear-mongering as Republicans are. But in the early days of Canada's election process, most of the talk I've noticed has been the Conservatives making fun of the Liberal's green plan (which is not perfect, but is far better than the pathetic idea the Conservatives call a plan), the Liberals complaining that everything is the Conservatives fault (Like the democrats, the Liberals aren't very good at rousing fear), the Bloc still being unhappy about being part of Canada, and the Greens and the NDP saying anything that will further their quest to get noticed at all.

It pains me a little when I see parties engaging in this style of politics so early in an election campaign, or at all really. But what pains me more, is that these tactics seem to work. Why do otherwise intelligent people get sucked in by this pandering and fear? Do we really get so sucked into party affiliations that we forget about things that are actually important?

As someone who, in all honesty, cares more for what a political party stands for than for what they say, can we please have a political party that will stand up and declare where it stands on the issues that people care about? I don't really give a damn who I'm supposed to be afraid of. What I want to know is: if you are elected, what are you going to do?

What is it going to take to get back to a political climate where tax cuts and villification aren't all it takes to get votes? When will people take enough interest to actually ask what these parties stand for?

Damnit.

Downtime

Updates will be sporadic for the next little while because I'm between internet connections.

Hopefully I'll have a new one set up in the next few days, but no guarantees.

UPDATE:

Hopefully I should have an internet connection again by sometime Wednesday.

CERN-Pocalypse!

So, they switched on the CERN Supercollider this morning, and the world hasn't ended yet. Now, to be fair, it's more on idle right now, and will take months to get up to the point where anything it does would be meaningful, but its always nice to not start out with a bang.
Of course, I'm among those not convinced that this will end the world at all.
"But, how can you have an opinion on something you don't know about?" I hear you ask.
Well, first of all, despite my best efforts, uninformed people have opinions all the time.
Secondly, this isn't really my opinion at all. No, I'm taking the advice of actual physicists who tell me not to worry. That's right, I've decided to take advice from people who actually know what they're talking about. It may seem like an extreme step to take on an issue like this, but I think it's worth the effort. And not having to think about the planet being eaten by a black hole.
I'm actually kind of excited about the whole CERN thing, because I'll enjoy finding over-simplified explanations of the results on Digg. Besides, if it goes wrong and somehow does destroy the planet, at least I can know that smart people finally got their chance to annihilate the planet, and not politicians.

In Canadian election stuff, all the parties seem to be trying to be the "greenest". And by all the parties, I mean all the parties except the Conservatives. They seem more concerned with making saving the environment/planet look like a filthy tax grab. While Canada might not be able to meet the Kyoto targets any time soon (thanks both due to the dithering of previous liberal governments, as well as a complete lack of effort by the conservative government) I don't think that we should make a government policy of being in denial about the gravity of the situation.
The Canadian political parties should also take note of the ever-growing anger against the telecommunications companies in Canada. Class-action suits are flying all over the place, and people are just plain fed up with the bullshit these companies pile on their customers. System access fees disguised as government fees, bandwidth capping, enormous interest and fees on late payment, internet throttling. Ever since 1995, Canadian governments have been increasingly allowing telecom companies to do whatever the hell they want. I think that regulation of an industry should absolutely be only used in extreme cases, but I think that partial regulation would help here. Personally (and many people I've spoken to agree with this) I don't believe that Canadian telecom companies act as though they were part of a free market system. It's like Bell, Rogers, Telus, Vidéotron and the rest operate in a little semi-monopolistic bubble. They compete only on the minimum level possible, and have largely reached a happy medium with each other. They have realized that none of them have to provide affordable, honest service if they all price gouge. The government (past and current ones in fact) deregulated this industry without providing any sort of consumer protection, and now we are all paying for it. And we're sick of it.

Mr. Harper, You are a Hypocrite.

Canadian Election, October 14th.
Canada, do not give the Conservatives a majority government. Or even another minority. Let's get these clowns out of office. This government rode into power on a promise of change, transparency, and accountability. Instead they've become one of the most secretive governments in Canadian history. They have shunned the media, prevented MPs from speaking freely, hide the fact that many of their MPs are extraordinarily right wing. I personally believe that it would, at this point, be dangerous to give the Conservatives a majority government. We would see a vast Americanization of our policies, a roll-back in abortion rights, an anti-science culture in government. Mr. Harper says he lets his MPs vote with their conscience on issues like gay marriage and abortion, but will not let his MPs declare where their conscience lies. Not to mention the audacity of calling an election within weeks of scheduling not one, but four bi-elections to replace empty seats. Do you expect those voters to vote twice? Are you really just throwing away all the tax-payers money that has already been spent to organize these bi-elections? This is also the "transparent, accountable" government that is actively trying to derail an investigation into allegations that it violated financing laws. Their efforts include telling their staffers that a summons to the investigating committee doesn't actually mean they have to show up and testify. Real accountable if you ask me.
On top of this, Prime Minister Harper is a hypocrite.
Yes, Mr Harper, I'm going to come right out and say it. You sir, are a hypocrite.
By calling this election, you are violating the spirit of an election law that your own government authored and passed. Your party cried foul for 12 years as the Liberals called elections when they were high in the polls, so you legislated fixed elections. The election that YOU scheduled is not until late 2009 Mr. Harper. But you saw that your party is nipping at the magic 40% approval rating that is considered majority territory. You could not resist this golden opportunity could you Mr. Harper? So what do you do? You create a false political crisis. You whine and complain about the opposition parties and how it's their fault that Parliament isn't working. You know what Mr. Harper? This minority Parliament was working so well for your government that you were able to abuse it to pass bills that you know the public did not agree with, but you also knew that the opposition parties were too weak to oppose them. Parliament deadlocked? Your government has not been defeated in Parliament yet Mr. Harper, a fact that you know as well as I do. Your government didn't even have any confidence motions tabled that the opposition had vowed to defeat. In a way, Parliament was not working, however it's because the opposition parties were not putting enough pressure on your government, Mr. Harper. Your government was getting away with things that no minority should be able to, and yet now you ask us to give you a majority? After you show a blatant disregard for election laws, including the ones that you yourself signed? Disgusting behaviour for a governing party Mr. Harper.
So now I call on you, Canada. I call on you to show this government that you will not be bullied and tricked into giving them a majority. Am I a fan of the other major parties? No, The NDP seems hell bent on knee-jerking itself into uselessness, and the Liberals are not a vehicle for change. Do I think that a Liberal minority government would be far less damaging to this country than another Conservative minority or, worst-case, a Conservative majority? Hell yes. This government does not respect us, Canada. This government thinks it can flaunt rules and laws for its own convenience. Let's get them out.

The Swing of Things

Well, it's time for me to get back into the swing of things here.
Been getting used to actually having to go to class and read again.
Damn I want my summer back.

Anyways, it looks like the idea of Sarah Palin as V.P. is (rightfully) getting picked apart by the Democrats and the media. The idea of someone with so little real political experience, such a limited world view, such rediculous beliefs and who still uses a Bush speech writer being a heartbeat (or lack of one) away from the presidency is, frankly, terrifying for anyone with two functioning neurons, and a longer memory than a goldfish. Yeah! Let's all go elect the ticket with the guy who doesn't understand the economy, and the bible thumper who doesn't understand the economy!
I am a little disgusted by the amount of media attention that her daughter being pregnant is getting. Mostly because the media coverage seems to be centered around whether it shows weak family values, and I really just don't care. What I think is more important is that it shows that Palin's policies on sexual education and contraception are flawed. If she can't even get her own daughter to abstain, then her sexual education ideas are obviously not working. And, oops, her daughter ends up pregnant because she didn't know about contraception.
News flash world, people have sex.
You can't decide that young people will stop having sex just because you tell them to, especially when they are already having it. It is short-sighted, foolish, and just downright stupid to decide that the personal beliefs of one person are more important than the health and wellbeing of an entire generation of young people. Pregnancy is a big deal. What if Bristol Palin had contracted AIDS because she didn't know about using condoms? So how about the media lay off the whole family values thing and work on the failed policies angle?

Palindrome

Well, McCain may have shot himself in the foot with his V.P. announcement. If the American voters bothered to think about important issues anyways, instead of just caring that she's both a woman, and kind of pretty. Sarah Palin is, to be blunt, a terrible choice.
She may be a governor, and she was a beauty queen, but that doesn't necessarily make you a good V.P. candidate. And this coming from someone who is a firm supporter of having attractive people in important positions.
Think about it this way, McCain is 72. He has a history of health issues, and being President is a very stressful position. Were he elected, it must be considered that he might not be able to serve a full term because of death or illness. Wouldn't it make sense to have a V.P. who is experienced and capable? Some foreign policy experience might be a good idea too. It is a very real possibility that, were McCain elected, Palin would have to take on all the responsibilities of President for part of his term. Do you really want a vice president who is so completely naive in foreign politics? Do you want a vice president who doesn't believe that human activity having an effect on the climate? Do you want a vice president who will actively help to overturn abortion rights?
Palin is a selfish choice by McCain, he wants someone who can help make up for his charisma deficits, and he chose someone who will not stand up to him on important issues. The vice president should be willing to give the president an opposing point of view, if they consider the president to be wrong about something. Palin will not do that, she will be a cheering section, nothing more.
John McCain also must think that he can lock up the female vote just by having a woman as his running mate. To me, that shows a great disrespect for female voters in America. Are there some people who will vote for a candidate just because of their gender? Absolutely. Is it a large proportion of the voting population? I don't think so. I have no problem with the idea of a woman as president or vice president, but to choose someone so inexperienced tells us that McCain thinks women are an easy vote to grab. It also tells us that he is more concerned with what happens on November 4th than with what happens after it. He cares more about being elected than he does about governing.
Is Palin (by far) the best looking Vice Presidential candidate ever? Absolutely. Is she probably the least qualified Vice Presidential candidate in my lifetime (so far)? Absolutely.

Election Time?

Well, I'm finally installed at my place in Montreal, got my room all set up.

McCain has finally announced his VP pick, and it is Sarah Palin.
If you asked "Sarah who?" then I'm with you.
Apparently she's the first-term governor of Alaska. Pretty much an unknown, but she's younger than Obama (to try and grab the young vote) and she's (obviously/allegedly) a woman (to grab the "I like Clinton only because I'm a woman" vote). Other than that, she seems to be a political nobody outside of Alaska, which makes her a bit of a wild card in the election.

On my side of the border, Prime Minister Harper is going ape-shit crazy. He's been frantically calling by-elections (to replace vacated seats in the house) and refusing to co-operate with investigations into his party's (alleged) violation of funding rules, and goading the opposition parties. Now he's claiming that parliament isn't working (even though it's only because of his party) and he will probably call a snap election in the next couple of weeks. If he does he will be hindered by a couple things: firstly, calling a general election will tell the voters in the by-election ridings that they don't matter. Second, it would violate a law that government passed that makes fixed elections (not due until next fall) unless the government gets defeated in parliament on a confidence motion (which it hasn't). What makes this a little more interesting is that even if he calls an election, it might not happen. The Governor General can refuse to dissolve parliament. Or, because we're in a minority government, can even tell the opposition parties to form their own government (of course this has only happened once so far, in 1926). If he really wants an election, he should introduce legislation that overturns the fixed elections, and make it a confidence motion. If he wins, he can call an election, and if he loses, the Governor General dissolves parliament.
Meanwhile, Harper is criticizing the Governor General for not returning early from her vacation to deal with a "political crisis" that he created. And yet his health minister, Tony Clement, didn't cut his vacation short (and still hasn't returned) to deal with a very real health crisis. You know, that listeriosis outbreak that could potentially make thousands ill (though now only in the dozens, thousands were exposed to tainted meat).
Oh well, Harper is trailing the Liberals (narrowly) in the polls, but I think Canadians have had enough of the Conservatives for a couple years.

Possibly My Last Post Ever! (In the next few days)

Well, it's moving time for me.

Bright and early tomorrow morning, anyways.

Since I'm packing, today's post will be in point-form.

-Not happy with Biden for V.P.

-Still don't like McCain.

-Canadian election soon?

I might not post/have the internet for the next few days, unless I can find a wifi spot.

See you all when I get back online.

Changes

Just a few small changes around the blog today.

Both have to do with making your life easier.

And no, I'm not shutting down.

You can now subscribe to me!

In two different ways, too!

You can subscribe to my feed and have it on your Google or Yahoo page (and a couple others too).

Or, even better, you can get my updates by email. No more frantically checking to see if I've put up anything new!

Foreign Follies

The ceasefire between Georgia and Russia is in effect, sort of. The Russians aren't too blatant in violating it, except for the whole fortifying their positions inside Georgia thing. But I'm not going to rag on Russia, or Georgia because that whole region is pretty messed up.

No, I'm going to talk about what the United States has to do with this, because they have some (though only a small amount of blame) to take for the war that broke out a couple weeks ago.

You see, what the United States did was make Georgia think its military could hit above its weight class. They genuinely believed that they could go into South Ossetia (where Russian soldiers were already stationed), take it over by force (which would involve engaging the Russians in combat) and hold off or deter any Russian response. Obviously they were completely incorrect. Instead, the Georgian David got curb-stomped by the Russian Goliath. Where the Americans come in is that they, indirectly, are the reason that the Georgians were so overconfident. You see, the Americans have about 1000 "military advisors" in Georgia, training the Georgian military. They also sell large amounts of arms to the Georgians, to modernize their military and bring them up to western (NATO) standards. I think the Georgians believed that either: a) That the presence of American soldiers in the country would prevent the Russians from attacking. b) That their new military gear purchased from the United States and Israel (which almost stopped sales to Georgia because of the conflict) would give them a massive technological advantage over the Russians. Or finally, c) That the Americans would respond to the Russians with something more than a stern talking-to.

Obviously option "c" is the least likely by far, America's military is too stretched to consider even a small-scale conflict with the Russians, not to mention that the American people would never stand for it.  "a" is also unlikely for reasons that the Georgians should have recognized. Russia is a big kid on the block once again, and fully intends to throw its weight around. They are not going to worry about hurting a few feelings here and there, even with the United States. The Russians are going to actively try to rebuild a power block to counter NATO's influence, and I think that this was the beginning of that effort. Russia isn't going to look the other way anymore in exchange for some Adidas track suits and a BMW. They're back in the game.

So it must have been option "b". Technological superiority. There is some merit to this theory, as the Georgians did manage to knock out several state-of-the-art Russian tanks with their new Israeli missiles (again, the Israelis were NOT pleased about the Georgians using those missiles). But ultimately the technological edge was minimal, and the Russians are (for now) much better trained, and had far more combat power in the area than the entire Georgian army possessed.

In things closer to home (just a little south to be exact), Obama has picked his running mate, and Joe Biden will be his V.P. candidate. I don't know much about Biden right now, but I will be reading up on him in the next few days.

I'm just glad Obama didn't make the colossal mistake that having Clinton as V.P. would have been.

It's Your Fault, America

It's going to be a busy week for me coming up. Yes! It's moving time! I get to truck a second van-load of my junk out to Montreal and finish setting up my apartment. And then it's school. Again.

Anyways, it'll be nice to be back in Montreal again, I missed it this summer.

It seems like Americans are getting ready to shoot themselves in the foot. Again.

John McCain is 5 points up in the polls over Barack Obama, and American voters think he has more credibility on the economy. McCain being the candidate who, in the primaries, admitted that he doesn't understand the economy. He also backed the (useless) gas tax holiday proposal. And he can't keep track of how many homes he has (7, worth almost 14 million dollars) in a time when foreclosure rates are approaching depression levels. 

At least people (including Governator Schwarzenegger) are lining up to back Obama on the whole tire inflation thing. It's interesting that the Republicans were so quick to ridicule something tangible and simple, that anyone can do for the price of a tire gauge, that will help reduce the United States' reliance on oil. It's because the Republican leadership doesn't want Americans to take things into their own hands. They want to keep getting fat kickbacks from oil companies, and a lot of them were oil men to begin with.

Anyways, it is entirely possible that McCain only got into the lead because Obama was away all week. Obama was looking and sounding sharp as soon as he got back.

But what it comes down to is that 67% of the United States is unhappy with the status quo, and only 28% are happy with it. John McCain will continue the status quo. And yet almost 50% of Americans would vote for him. America, when you do things like that, it makes it harder and harder for those of us who say we love Americans and hate your government. When you do things like that, it implicates you in your government and makes people like me sound like morons. So America I beg you, for my sake, please wake up and smell the instant coffee. You really do not want John McCain for 4 years. Just picture having Bush for 12 years. Sure McCain might, arguably, be more of a capable adult. But ask yourself this: is it better to have an incompetent idiot implementing bad policies, or to have a capable (and allegedly rage-filled) person implementing bad policies? That is the difference between Bush and McCain.

--------This Post Has Been Interrupted Because I'm Tired----------

Olympics, Russian Bear, PETP

Well, the Olympics are in full swing now and, I have to admit, I haven't really been paying attention. I realized that watching things like the parallel bars, while impressive feats of human ability, still don't interest me. Even when it's on the Olympic level. My participation in this year's Olympics has been pretty much limited to checking the medal counts every day or two. Canada, please stop letting me down on this one, it's just depressing to see 0 medals every day. And to watch you sink further in the medal rankings. Warm-ups are over Canada, let's see some wins!

Anyways, in things that matter, it looks like there's a cease-fire between Georgia and Russia which should, at least temporarily, halt the violence there. I'm not sure whether or not I'm on the Russian side of this, or the Georgian side just yet, to be honest, I don't know enough about the region or the events to pick a side. But one way or the other one thing is certain: the Russia of the 90s is gone. The new Russia is going to be a lot more assertive in its politics, and I think we can expect to see more of these "interventions" in the next few years. The biggest question is: where will Russia decide that their influence ends?

And Bush's personal take on the conflict?

http://www.latimesblogs.latimes.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/08/09/beachvolleyball2.jpg

Aww hell, women's beach volleyball is way more interesting than Russia!

And back to PETA, I think we need a new organization. One specifically to deal with PETA's tactics. How about People for the Ethical Treatment of People? PETP. I guess it's not a very pronounceable acronym, but it's the thought that counts. How would PETA members feel if their personal tragedies were twisted to promote political messages that they don't support? What if a beef company parodied Pamela Anderson's divorce in an advertisement? No, I've come to the conclusion that PETA is a hypocritical, selfish organization that not only assumes to be the moral superior of common people, but will also trample their privacy, and their tragedy in order to advance its own agenda. PETA is a perfect example of people with (relative) privilege preaching to those who may not. Like they say, there are no starving vegetarians. While probably not literally true, it does point out that if you're hungry enough, you will eat whatever you can. And if you don't worry about where your next meal is coming from, you can be picky. Stupid PETA.

Would PETA Please Just Fuck Off?

Well, PETA is continuing its run on my list of organizations that I want to punch right in the diaphragm. Generally I ignore them, my personal opinion on meat being that I will stop eating cows when they stop being delicious. 

But PETA has decided to continue their run of tasteless, offensive advertising with an ad campaign comparing the brutal murder and beheading of Tim Mclean on a Greyhound bus to eating meat. Now, with most organizations, I'd think that this sort of ad was a fluke from a marketing agency to a young, ambitious advertising person. However, PETA has pulled this sort of trick before. Remember, lets, the Pickton murder trial in British Columbia. You know, the one where the accused murdered and dismembered anywhere from 25-50 prostitutes? And remember how it was rumoured that he mixed in some human remains with pork that he sold to friends? Well PETA had an ad about that too, a young woman dressed like a prostitute, and the words "I'm not food either". This is an organization that bills itself on offensive shock tactics. Let's have a little fucking respect for the dead, shall we? Don't try and tack on your personal moral agenda onto a tragedy that does not have anything to do with you. Is PETA's message really so out of touch with society that they have to resort to these leeching tactics to get attention? It is a sign of a dying message, or at least a dying messenger, when you have to resort to shock tactics and fear-mongering. And those are words I usually reserve for the GOP. Let's go back to having Pamela Anderson pose nude. Actually, having just googled her, lets not.

This ad is one of the few things that actually made me angry in recent memory. While I think that us humans are basically poorly insulated monkeys, there are some things that many animals that are not the dominant species on this planet can do that apparently PETA can't. It's called mourning the dead. I will not have respect for any organization that makes light of someone's murder and dismemberment in order to claim moral superiority over others.

And how about being demeaning to women, PETA? While I'm all for female nudity, can you really claim moral superiority over us carnivorous neanderthals when your site seems to be a collection of famous, attractive women posing nude, and videos of your supporters having whipped-cream wrestling matches with playboy bunnies? I have a challenge for you PETA, get your message out in a way that is respectful to murder victims, and doesn't use women as sex objects.

Now I'm going to call PETA hypocrites, because I can.

If anyone related to their policies or advertising has ever: killed a mosquito, gotten rid of an ant infestation, swatted at an irritating fly, or used antibacterial soap; they are hypocrites. Why? Because what makes vertebrates better than invertebrates? If it is a sin to eat a cow, why should insects, bacterium, or viruses be singled (or in this case, tripled) out for bad treatment?

While I do enjoy eating meat, I do think that animals should be treated well. Until they are slaughtered to be eaten. But PETA seems to have become more concerned with being a media whore than actually getting anything accomplished. They demonize people who have the diet that their species evolved to have. We have meat eating teeth as well as veggie-teeth. Not to mention an intestinal system that is not made to handle lots of plants.

Now, let me be clear, I have no problem with people who want to be vegetarians or vegans. Just like I have no problem with Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindi, etc. As long as they don't try and pull some "holier than thou" bullshit on me. So I have an idea, how about a tailgate party right in front of some PETA offices, have some steaks, hot dogs, the works. Anyone can come. BBQ all day. So they can smell all the delicious flesh cooking. Think of it as revenge for putting booths with video of slaughterhouses next to hot dog stands (made me hungry).

I know this is kind of rambling. I'll fix it when it's not 1am.

Nothing To See Here

Well, to be honest, I don't really have too much to say right now.
I just felt like making a post from my new MacBook. I'll probably take this down later when the novelty wears off.

Apple Store Take My Money, Please!

Well, I just got back from the Apple Store a little while ago, my greedy arms full of wonderful new gadgets.
I picked up a new low-end MacBook as well as a soon-to-be-free iPod Touch.
I know I wrote about the Touch already but, since I got it out of the box, I have not been able to put it down. It is just so much damn fun to play with.
I am also completely in love with Leopard on the new laptop (I've still been plunking around on Tiger on my iMac)
While I really love the iPod Touch and the MacBook, my advice to anyone who is thinking of getting one soon, but doesn't really NEED one is this: wait until October. The back-to-school promotion ends mid-September, and Apple has traditionally brought out new laptops and iPods after that promotion. If you need one, there's no point in waiting, because the products are amazing right now, but if you can wait, do. Who knows what sweet updates are coming.

Oh, and for anyone who hasn't seen the fourth Indiana Jones movie yet: don't.

Would The Government Please Stop Trying To Register My Life?

I'm sure most of you have heard about the horrible murder that happened yesterday on a Greyhound bus.
For those of you who haven't, basically a guy stabbed the person next to him to death, and beheaded him without any apparent motive.
This is a rare, tragic, random killing, and should not be used for political grandstanding. Apparently, a few opposition MPs have mentioned a "Knife Registry" along the same lines as our former long-gun registry. Now, I'm no big fan of the current government in Canada, but they had the sense to slap that idea down pretty quickly.
A knife registry would be expensive, invasive, and stupid.
It would be nearly impossible to track the sale of every single knife in a country of 32 million people. And even harder to figure out what knives are already in the hands of the people.
All a knife registry would do is waste funding that could be used for something useful, like health care, infrastructure, etc. It would also give more unnecessary information to a government with a pretty weak track record when it comes to respecting the privacy of the average citizen.
Not to mention the question of actually having to register knives. Would I have to fill out a form every time I buy a knife? Would I have to send in a form to declare all the knives I already own? If I do all that and then find a knife sitting around that I didn't know about, would I be breaking the law?
Also there is the question of how the information would be used. Would it be like the gun registry where the police would check it before raids or before trying to arrest someone? (Personally, if they checked me up in a knife registry, there would be quite a list just for the kitchen) Or would it just be information for informations sake?
And would this be a slippery slope of registries for anything potentially dangerous? A knife is a tool that can be used to kill. So is a screwdriver. Or many power tools. Hammers. Hell, I could probably even bludgeon someone to death with my computer if I wanted to. Theoretically, with enough time, you could even paper-cut someone to death. Would we start keeping registries of these murderous items too? Until the government (and anyone who can get into their systems) has a complete inventory of everything bought and sold, and everything in every home in the country?
The problem here isn't knives, if the attacker had had a gun, he would have used it and more people would be dead. If he'd had a hammer, he would have used it. And so on. It seems that this man was determined to kill someone, with whatever means were at his disposal. The problem is that there are people in the world who will do something as awful as this, and making me fill out a form to buy a pocket knife won't help. You can't register psychopaths, sociopaths, and homicidal maniacs out of existence, you can only register the population into frustration.
I don't know how this awful event could have been avoided, but I do know that treating every citizen as a potential murderer is not the answer.

Pontiac G6 Passenger Review

So I spent a fair amount of time in a 2008 Pontiac G6 GXP this weekend (as a passenger), and I thought I might as well give a little passenger-view review of the car.
It is sporty-looking on the outside, a pretty handsome car.
Getting into the car will be tricky for tall people (not me) or people with wonky knees (me) because the car is very low to the ground. Once inside the car, there is plenty of legroom in the back seat, however anyone above 5'4" (such as myself) will have to watch their heads, the roof is very low. Inside the car looks and feels cheap, lots of hard plastic doesn't help this. It also feels like you're inside a bunker. The windows are tiny, and very high up on the car.
The V6 version of this car feels pretty snappy on the road. Plenty of power. It also seemed to get pretty good mileage both on the highway and in the city. However, the ride (to put it frankly) sucks. Every bump, crack, nook, and cranny in the road is amplified making the ride quite jarring. Also, it is hard for the passengers to find a good "rest my head somewhere to sleep" position.

Anyways, I should be able to get another video up tomorrow, and hopefully my schedule will normalize a little this week.

Jazz Fest!

Well, sorry again for the inconsistent video uploads the last two weeks, hopefully things will normalize soon.

Anyways, the Beaches International Jazz Festival in Toronto is running this weekend, and I recommend that anybody in Toronto head down tonight, tomorrow night, and during the day on Saturday and Sunday. It is always a good time, and a nice chance to wander around a pretty nice part of Toronto.

That's all for me this week, have a great weekend.

Euphemisms

I got thinking about euphemisms today.
About when my friends and I were getting our first jobs, we were "employees". You had a pretty good idea where you stood in the grand scheme of things. They were the "employers" and you were the "employee". You did menial tasks, dealt with angry, unreasonable customers, and if the place was in financial trouble, you were at the top of the list of people who would get cut.
Now, a couple years ago, I noticed that I was no longer an "employee", I was "Staff". "Staff" makes you feel a little better about yourself. Emptying garbage cans suddenly feels more important, because you're not just employed there, you're a "staff member". Without you, the place wouldn't run as well, the mighty staff to the rescue.
So today, I'm at an Ikea. And I notice that the employees, who might actually be staff, are now "co-workers". Sort of lets the people at the bottom of the food chain delude themselves a little bit more. They don't just work for the managers, they work WITH them! And of course the company will take care of you, because you are a co-worker! Not just some measly staff member, or (god forbid) an employee. And of course if there's trouble at the company, the management will take pay cuts instead of firing you, because you're a co-worker. Sounds almost equal. Like maybe they'd take the bus to work, and help you move pallets of furniture.
News flash co-workers. It's the same as being called "comrade". It's just a little title to slow down the realization that you are just an employee number and a time-sheet.

Viacom Exceeds All Known Measurements of Douchebaggery!

Well, Viacom has extended their streak of douchebaggery.
After having the courts hand them all of YouTube's user information, they have started sending out a host of copyright ownership claims to YouTube posters.
Sure, if it's theirs, fine. But they're sending these claims to independent producers with no affiliation to Viacom. They're sending them to people who produce THEIR OWN videos. Videos that Viacom has absolutely no ownership over.
The video that seems to be getting the most attention is a cute short by Joanna Davidovich. (you can watch the video here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=0F-WQ9ReFJY ) Viacom is claiming it owns the copyright to "some or all of the audio and visual content". The problem is that Joanna made the short herself, and she actually has it copyrighted. Every distribution of it has been non-exclusive.
This sort of thing had never even occurred to me. While I figured Viacom would be up to no good with all the information, I never thought they'd try to steal people's videos. I hope the judge that gave Viacom information they never should have had feels like a huge douche.

iPod Touch 2.0 Hands On!

I got a little hands-on time with the iPod Touch today, complete with the version 2.0 software.
My opinion?
Brilliant.
I had actually never used a Touch, or iPhone, before so it was completely new to me.
The interface is magnificent. Intuitive, good looking. If this thing was a woman, she'd be quite the catch.
It also seems to have some sort of GPS thingy, that also tracks traffic and such. It was neat. I liked the touch keyboard, it was much easier than I thought it would be, but I think that it can go either way. I can see why some people would hate the keyboard.
Being a university student, I get a free one of these when I buy a laptop, so when I pick up a MacBook later this summer, I'll certainly grab one of these too.

Tardiness, Zimbabwe, Batman (Batman is FANTASTIC!)

First I want to apologize to everyone for only getting one video up this week. It was just one of those weeks where time just disappears. But something occurred to me this week at work. Almost nobody cares about being on time anymore. I work at a day camp, which starts at nine in the morning (not an unreasonable time in my books). I understand that sometimes it can be hard (especially with kids) to get somewhere on time, but TWICE this week I had kids show up incredibly late. I'm not talking half an hour or anything like that, I had two kids show up FOUR HOURS late. Now one had to go to the doctor or something, so his parents called and said he wouldn't be there; but the other one, the parents didn't call, or even apologize, they just showed up with him 4 hours late. You know what? In the days when I went to day camp if I showed up 4 hours late, they wouldn't take me. They'd say to come back tomorrow. Now, I don't think being late is the problem in itself, but it is a symptom of one. To put it bluntly, a lot of parents these days are more concerned with their own convenience than with having a well-adjusted child. What sort of message does it send the kid when their parents don't see anything wrong with showing up 4 hours late for an organized program? It tells the kid that there is nothing wrong with blowing off appointments and showing up whenever they want to. I think this is only going to get worse, and it is going to lead to a generation of (even more) self-centered, self-indulging whiny people.

Anyways, in things that actually matter, Zimbabwe has started printing 100 billion Zimbabwean dollar notes. And they'll barely cover the cost of a loaf of bread. Zimbabwe is (or has) fallen apart as a country.

Oh, by the way, The Dark Knight is fantastic. Christian Bale is gruff and kid of wooden, but Heath Ledger is absolutely brilliant as The Joker. He really takes over every scene he is in, and the character veritably oozes evil. Ledger is fluid, the way he moves, speaks, it is all perfect, absolutely the best incarnation of the joker yet. It is really a shame that such a great acting talent was lost so young. One issue I have with the movie is that some of the fight scenes do suffer from the "shakey-cam syndrome" that has become popular in many action movies these days (Batman Begins had a far worse case of this). In some of the fight scenes, it is hard to tell who is winning, or even who is fighting. I wish Hollywood would stop this practice. Now, other fight scenes in The Dark Knight are pretty good, moving towards a more Bourne-esque style of fight; brutal, quick and a very focused lethality, while still being interesting to watch. Personally I think that the fights in the Bourne movies are pretty much the pinnacle of modern movie fights, and I hope that the next Batman movie moves farther towards that style.

Mario Kart Jihad!

Well, I've decided that Mario Kart for Wii is absolutely awesome, and a terrorist plot. It's designed to keep otherwise productive, vigilant people stuck in their basements, where they can't stop terrorists.
Anyways, I got to make fun of another viewer in my video today. I don't normally do that, as most of my viewers are pretty smart, but the brain of the people who comment on my F#CK Bell Canada video seems to have been replaced with one from some sort of rodent. Except rodents are good at mazes.
Also, I came across a charity called Remote Area Medical (or Medicine, I forget) and they do a lot of great work, both in developing countries and in the United States. Check them out at http://www.ramusa.org (not .com, that goes to some company) Take a look, and help them out a little if you can.

YouTube Musings

Well, so far I've been at the whole YouTube thing for about 6 weeks. And I like it. It's taking off way more quickly than I'd hoped, and I'm getting a much better reception than I ever thought I would. It's pretty neat seeing things speed up, too. It took me about 3 weeks to hit 10 subscribers, and then just 3 more weeks to hit 40. And it looks like I'll break 6000 views this week.
YouTube is an interesting medium to perform in, and probably the weirdest in my experience. In all my performing experience (as an acrobat, general funny-man, actor, back-up musician, featured musician, and solo musician) I've never done anything quite like this. In every other type of performance I've done, there is instant feedback from the audience, you can feel if they like what you're doing. And if they don't, you can completely change tack in the middle if you need to. Or you can just turn it up to 11. But on YouTube, I might not know for hours, if not days, how my work is being received. And I can't change it if it sucks.
So, I do plan on continuing my YouTube work, though as I'm working full-time right now, I'll just try to get 2-3 videos up per week, but I'm not promising specific days. I don't really have a long-term plan for the show (I actually don't even write a script) so I'm just going to see where it takes me. So far it certainly has been fun getting a little community started where I can share my views with people all over the world, and they can share theirs with me.

Let's All Hate Phone Companies

Well, Canada continues its reputation as the worst place in the world to own a cell phone.
First, Rogers Canada so far has refused to provide reasonable plans and prices for the iPhone, and insists on a world-longest 3 year plan, meaning that a Canadian iPhone customer will pay at least 2600$ over the life of the phone.
Apple has responded to this, in a way that I think is quite fair. Since they can't break their contract with Rogers, and no other network would run the iPhone 3G in Canada well anyways, Apple has done 2 things. Well, one certainly, and one allegedly. First, Apple has (allegedly) shipped some iPhones to Europe that were supposed to go to Canada. I think they're expecting slower than planned sales in Canada, as evidenced by over 50,000 people signing a petition to Rogers. The second thing they've (certainly) done is to refuse to sell the iPhone 3G in Canadian Apple Stores. Thats right, they're refusing to sell their own product. They are so pissed at Rogers that they won't help them sell the iPhone. Way to fuck up getting the most sought-after tech device of the year, Rogers.
But Rogers isn't the only asshole in the Canadian market. Being a big country, there's room for several. Bell and Telus announced that they will begin charging for received text messages. Including unsolicited, spam texts. So now their customers will pay 0.15$ to send a text, and 0.15$ to receive one. That might not seem like much, until you realize that so far this year Canadians have sent over 4 billion texts, and sent over 10 billion in 2007.

F#ck Bell Canada 2...The Beer Analogy.

Well, it seems I'm still getting some flak for my video complaining about my ISP, Bell Canada.
Frankly, it bothers me a little when the default attitude is "go call tech support" or "pay for more bandwidth".
I'll pay for more bandwidth if they give me what I pay for now and I still need more. I'm not paying extra just to get what I'm supposed to at this price point.
And there is no technical problem, Bell decided to slow my internet down. Besides, consumers shouldn't have to spend hours on the phone to get services that they've already paid for.
Think of it like this; you go to the store, grab a 12 pack of beer, and bring it up to the counter. You pay for it, take it home, and drink 2. The next day someone from the store shows up and takes back 6 of the beers.
You paid for 12 beers, but only get 6.
I pay for 3mbps, and rarely get 10% of that.
I have never passed my 60GB cap.
Bell never informed me that it was crippling my internet.
Bell continues to offer services with ever higher bandwidths (up to 18mbps), as well as opening an online video store at the same time that it is crippling my relatively low-end connection and claiming that it doesn't have any bandwidth to spare.
Bullshit.
UPDATE: Google has decided that Bell's throttling violates Canada's telecommunications laws, and has filed a complaint with the CRTC. Hopefully Google gets somewhere on this one, because Bell and the other big Canadian ISP's (Rogers, Telus) have pretty much said that they are playing "Fuck the Consumer" on this one.
If Canadian ISP's were prison, we'd all be reaching for the soap.

Viacom, Go Fuck Yourself

Well, usually I don't get too concerned when one company sues another, but Viacom's suit against Google/YouTube is starting to creep me out. Google has now been ordered by a judge to turn over to Viacom ALL its YouTube user data. Viacom wants to use the data to prove that copyrighted videos are viewed more than user-created videos. However, Google doesn't have to turn over just a list of what gets viewed how many times, they have to turn over over 4TB (yes, TERABITES) of user data. Viacom gets to see who viewed what, under what user names, and even under what IP address for those anonymous viewers.
I think I've made it pretty clear what I think is happening to privacy rights these days, but this is even more disgusting than many things I've seen recently. YouTube users from all over the world are having their IP addresses and viewing habits sent to a 3rd party, without their, or Google/YouTube's consent.
EDIT: It turns out that it is actually 12TB of data being given to Viacom, not a measly 4TB.
Kind of makes me wonder if Viacom is going to start trying to sue people who watched copyrighted material on YouTube for copyright violation. Hopefully Google will appeal this decision. This judge seems to be a total lunatic.

Happy Canada Day!

Well, July first has come and gone, known south of the border as "three days before July Fourth", but up here in Canada it is Canada Day.
Thats right, 141 years old, without a civil war or falling apart as a country.

On a note completely unrelated to any current events (sarcasm), July first also happens to be the 150th anniversary of Darwin publishing his theory of evolution.

So, Happy Birthday Canada, 141 years, and you hardly look a day over 120.

Spain/Germany

So, almost through the Euro cup now.
I'm excited for a sweet Germany/Spain final, after Spain's 3-0 thrashing of Russia.
I haven't decided who I'm rooting for yet, but leaning towards Spain.
Anyone in Toronto who isn't watching the Euro Cup should head down to the Pride Parade on Sunday. Absolutely one of the best parties in the city, even for us straight people.
Thats about it for me today, a bunch of new videos up in the past couple days, so check 'em out.
http://www.youtube.com/livefrommontreal
Nothing else until Monday, because I'm away this weekend.
Have a great weekend all.

Goodbye George Carlin

As many of you may have heard, George Carlin passed away yesterday.
Carlin wasn't just a comedian. He was probably one of the smartest and best sources of social commentary that I can think of. His routines tended to be profane, but that was partly the point. Just watch "7 Words You Can't Say On TV" and you'll see my point. His jokes ranged on topics from current events to euphemisms, religion to social ills.
I know I'll miss Carlin, especially with so many younger comics who, frankly, are just stupid. They go for cheap laughs that don't have any staying value. I can watch Carlin's stuff from decades ago, and it's still hilarious. Let's see how many of today's comics are still funny in 30 years, or even how many can make it to 71 performing as a comedian. Carlin could make fun of anything, and even if you cringed at something he said, he managed to make his point. He uncovered the social stigmas under the attitudes that respond to his jokes.
"May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house."

The Russians are Coming!

Wow, so I'm pretty stunned by yesterday's Euro Cup match.
For those of you who don't know, it was Netherlands vs. Russia, in the quarter final.
After completely dominating their group, the Netherlands was pretty heavily favoured among the people I know who follow soccer.
And then Russia annihilated them. 3-1.
This is particularly embarrassing for myself and many of my friends, because we spent most of Friday afternoon saying Russia would lose.
To be fair, watching the Russians play, they completely deserved the win in that game, and their previous ones. Though it's weird, for some reason every vastly superior team the Russians have faced has played like Bhutan when they face Russia.
Conspiracy theorist soccer fans, start your engines.
Hope everyone had a good weekend. I should have a new video up tomorrow.

D(ownload)-Day is Here!

Typing out this entry on two brand new things. First a new Apple wired keyboard that I picked up today, because my previous generation wireless one crapped out on me one too many times. The last straw was when it stopped working in the middle of a COD4 match, and wouldn't reconnect to my computer, even after re-booting into OS X. Anyways, the new keyboard is fantastic, it's the one with the MacBook style keys, but the spacing seems better than on the MacBook, and it has a full set of function keys, and a number pad.
The second new thing is Firefox 3, which was released into the wild today.
I haven't had much time with it, but so far all is good. It feels much snappier than Firefox 2, and I like the new UI.
Anyways, enough of the nerd-speak for today. What's really news is that gay marriage is legal in California now, bringing that state into line with Canada, Spain, The Netherlands, Massachusetts, and another country I can't remember. Personally, I don't see the big deal some people make of gay marriage. I don't see how legitimizing homosexual relationships will take the meaning out of the relationships of my fellow heterosexuals. Western countries always claim that they don't discriminate based on many things, including sexual orientation, and yet the United States still doesn't allow openly gay people in their military, and 48/50 states don't allow gay marriage. It's well past time to move past saying we don't discriminate, and actually giving everyone an even playing field.

UPDATE 20/06/08:
Firefox3 still works quite well, though it seems not all of my bookmarks got transferred over.
Also, my NES plug-in isn't compatible with 3 yet.
Verdict: overall worth the upgrade (much better speed, nice new UI) but I'd keep #2 around just to make sure you don't lose a vital bookmark, or a handy plug-in.

Facebook is Stalkier!

Well, Facebook just got even more creep-tastic.
It was already pretty bad, and then they added the whole "people you might know" thing.
That was weird enough, having them suggest I add friend's friends or siblings, but at least I knew OF most of the people it suggested to me. Then today, I was on the old stalker-net, and there was a name I didn't recognize in the "people you might know" part. We had exactly zero friends in common, and they were in the Spain network. A completely different continent.
Now I'm wondering if my name is turning up on people's newsfeeds in Qatar or something.
Anyways, apparently now I can creep on people I don't even know.
Sweet.

Saturday Update

So, as most of you probably know by now, The Netherlands totally destroyed France yesterday in the Euro Cup. It was a massive 4-1 victory, and a fantastic game to watch. The Netherlands was weak through most of the first half, and saved many times by incredible goal-tending. However, in the second half, they completely dominated. Ribery was fantastic for France, but nobody else on the team really seemed into the game. Even Henry missed a whole bunch of shots that should have been goals.
Finally got a new full-length video up today. My only excuse for the delay is laziness. Check it out for my "People Who Annoy Me: Bike Path Edition".
The Incredible Hulk came out this weekend, and I'm pretty excited for it, I might go see it during the week.
It just occurred to me that my desk is horribly equiped. It is certainly bad when I reach for something to write a note with, and end up with an old lottery ticket, and a pencil crayon. Ugh. Desk cleaning time I guess.
Have a great weekend all.

Euro Cup '08!

Just the Euro Cup on my mind today, a couple of really sweet, surprising games.
I spent the first part of my afternoon watching Germany get absolutely destroyed by Croatia. Like most people I know, I was expecting Germany to either squeak a victory, or just plain run the show. Damn was I surprised, Germany looked like Italy did in the Italy/Netherlands game. The German team was completely disorganized, frustrated, and plain just kept screwing up. Certainly makes Group B a little more interesting.
Then the second game, with Austria somehow pulling a 92nd minute tie with Poland. The days games certainly did not go as expected.
Looking forward to tomorrow's games, especially the France/Netherlands game.
Hopefully I'll have a video up tomorrow, I know I've kind of been skimping this week.

The Second Coming is Here!

Well, I managed to get nice and sun burned this weekend. A job hazard of being pale I guess.
No video today because I was busy, but hopefully tomorrow, and certainly Wednesday.

Anyways, as all the Apple fans already know, the second coming of the Jesus-phone was announced today and, unlike Christianity's second coming, this one has a firm date. July 11.
Yes, the 3G iPhone was announced today, with a whole whack of new features, and at half the price of the O.G. iPhone. Will I be getting one? In short, I doubt it. While I would love one, I'm still not crazy about paying 200$ for a phone and, being in Canada, I can't see the plans for the iPhone being very affordable. Our cell contracts are pretty much muggings. That said, I do think it will sell quite well.

Please, No Clinton VP

Sorry this post is late, but I decided to enjoy the nice weather yesterday.

Anyways, here's why I don't think Clinton should be Obama's running mate. (Just for the record, I do think she should have an important role in the next administration, just not VP)
First of all, she's easy pickings for the Republican political attack machine, especially with all her mistakes and lies during the primary season.
Secondly, Obama is running on a platform of change and, except for being a woman, Clinton represents everything of the current American political system. She would be an anchor, keeping a movement for change from coming out of the past. She is very much an "establishment" candidate instead of a "change" candidate.
Moving on, everyone would know that Clinton REALLY wants to be President, and would be accepting a consolation prize. Obama would have to put a lot of effort into reminding everyone that he's in charge and not her. Adding to this would be the fact that Clinton is a very divisive character, I can almost guarantee that there would be rivalries and friction in the White House if she were to be Vice President.
My Pics for VP? Edwards or Richardson.

No Graduation For You!

Well, in addition to my video yesterday, I also put up a video response to one of sxephil's videos. The issue in question is whether students at some high school should have been allowed to graduate. They were prevented from graduating because they wore t-shirts with the Rebel Flag on them at school.
I caught a little flack from some people over my response, where I stated that they should be allowed to graduate. In the video, I said that there shouldn't be an issue unless the shirt had something obscene on it, and someone pointed out that some people do think the Rebel Flag is obscene.
Personally, I don't think a high school administration does have or should have the authority to decide what is considered obscene. And even if schools were given that authority, preventing a student from graduating because you don't like what is on their t-shirt is absolutely rediculous. There are many other avenues the school can try. They can ask the students to change their shirts, send them home for the day, etc. It is a small, but important, abuse of power.
Besides, if a student feels more attachment to the Rebel Flag and the south than they do to the rest of the country and the American Flag, who can tell them that they're wrong? These students are being persecuted for their own personal and political beliefs.
And I don't even like the Rebel Flag. I am someone who associates it with slavery, but I don't have any ties to the south. The General Lee has a Rebel Flag on it. Unless the shirts had racist slogans on them, I don't think they should have been an issue.

Keep the DMCA South of the Border

Another video went up today.
The main part of it is me hating on the DMCA, I do make a mistake in the video though, where I say that Canada's government wants to update the DMCA. What I should have said is that the Canadian government wants to make our copywrite laws match the American DMCA. Oops.
Anyways, our copywrite laws are already considered to be better than the American ones, and they allow the purchaser a lot of fair use.
http://www.ccer.ca for more

Nothing Interested Me Today

No video today, partly because I didn't really hear very much interesting news, but mainly because of laziness. Look for one sometime tomorrow.
Also, rumour has it that Hillary wants to be Obama's VP. I'll probably go into that tomorrow for a minute or two.
Also, for a whole bunch of celebrity mugshots, go to http://www.clumsycrooks.com/mugshots

National Accordion Recognition Month!

My fourth video went up today, it's my personal rant to Clinton supporters (the crazy ones, not the everyday ones). It's a little short because I was in a hurry, and it didn't turn out quite as angry sounding as I'd hoped, but I still thought it would be good to put up.
Also, it is now officially Accordion Recognition Month, so if you or someone you know plays the accordion, they are ridicule free until the end of June.
Also, all the best to Edward Kennedy, word is that his surgery today went very well. I wish him luck.

2012: The End of the Internet

I just came across this video, and I thought I'd share it.
It's from a group of YouTube vloggers who are very into net neutrality, and I highly recommend it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2XPiqhN_Ns

Net neutrality is a very important issue to me, and it should be important to anyone who uses the internet on a regular basis.

Together, we can save the internet.

The Race is Over, Hillary

So the Democratic Rules and By-laws committee finished meeting, and decided to seat the Florida and Michigan delegates with a half vote each. Apparently Clinton supporters are still unhappy, saying its unfair to those voters.
Clinton agreed to the rules of the process to chose a Democrat candidate. Florida and Michigan willfully violated those rules. When it looked like she would be a shoo-in to be the presidential candidate, she supported having Florida and Michigan stripped of their delegate votes, and all her supporters on the committee that decided to do that voted to have Florida and Michigan stripped of their delegates.
Now, in an effort to appease Clinton supporters, the Democratic Party has moved the goalposts, and changed the rules.
I've said it before, and hopefully I won't have to say it again, but if Hillary wants to keep campaigning, she can go right ahead, but it's sleazy dealing to change the rules of a contest part way through. Sure the rules are archaic and bizarre, but they're the rules that all the other candidates had to play by.
This is not, as some have said, a conspiracy in the Democratic Party to get rid of the Clinton's influence (hell, both Hillary and Bill are superdelegates). This is the Democratic Party bending over backwards to try and appease them, without at the same time hijacking Obama's victory. The democrats know that Obama brought a lot of people into this race who might not have even bothered to vote otherwise.
I'm feeling I might have a similar rant in my next video.
Happy Sunday.

Oh, and just as an end note, any democrat who says they will vote for McCain if their preferred candidate loses is a moron.

Happy Saturday

So a bit of a new look for the site today, just changing things around a little until I find something I like.
I'm actually getting some views on my videos, not a lot, but some. More than I expected at this point, anyways.
Have a great Saturday night.

Update

Third video went up today. Again, it was just me weighing in on various goings-on in the world. Ideally I'd like to keep putting up three videos per week, but I think two is probably going to be more realistic in the long run.
Also, I'm going to be trying to tweak the HTML in the next couple days, because the ads and search bar are totally not where they're supposed to be.

Second video

My second video went up today, so stop by and check it out (youtube.com/livefrommontreal).
And it is a beautiful day today, so I'm going outside.

Roboto-Simian Apocalypse Approaches!

Just a quick blurb here, but I just found out that scientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have created a robotic arm that monkeys can control with their thoughts. As someone who has seen far too many movies involving monkeys and/or robots, this probably causes me much more concern than it should.
Full story here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7423184.stm

Back in Business

Alright, so Google has realized that I'm not spam, so my blog is now back up. The first YouTube episode is up (http://www.youtube.com/livefrommontreal) and I hope to have a second up by the end of the week.

I'm sick of the race for the Democratic nomination

Well, unless you've been sitting under a rock for the past weekend, you'll have already heard about Hillary Clinton's latest campaign gaffe. For those of you who don't read the news; while defending her decision to stay in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Clinton used the example of RFK's assassination as a reason she should stay in the race. She said that (I'm paraphrasing a bit here) she should stay in because he got assassinated in June.
Wow.
While she never mentioned Obama by name, it's pretty obvious that she was saying that she thinks he might be assassinated. A pretty shocking remark.
It should also be noted that when RFK was running for the nomination, only 13 states held primaries, and he was assassinated only about 4 weeks into the contest, not after nearly 6 months of primaries.

So, what do you think? Do you think there is a greater than normal risk that Obama might be assassinated? Should that affect how people vote? And is Hillary justified in bringing up this topic, or is she just grabbing at straws?

Just as an end note, I don't think Hillary should be forced out of the race. If I was in her position (impossible because I'm male, and a Canadian) I hope I would bow out gracefully. However, letting her run until she is incapable or unwilling to do so is part of being a democratic state.

Update

No videos up yet, but I think that once I start putting them up I'm going to aim for 1-3 videos per week, depending on how busy I am. The videos will mostly be my rantings on current events, and will hopefully be a little amusing.

Beginning

No real news right now, but I thought I should actually get something up here. As it stands now, I'm just trying to figure out roughly how my show is going to work, what topics I'm going to cover, etc. Hopefully I'll have some video up in the next few weeks.

-Patrick