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DeNiro Movie Game

2007-02-19T22:07:00.000-05:00

For years now I've played a lot of games, but I've never had more fun playing the game "DeNiro". It's a great first date game, if the two people involved are really into movies. I can't take credit for this game, my friend Sinead was the inventor of it. We played it on our very first date and it was a lot of fun!

Basically the rules are this:
1) You'll need a minimum of 2 players to play. The more the merrier.
2) First person starts off with an actor (ex., Nick Nolte).
3) Then the next person picks a movie that the actor appeared in (48 Hours).
4) Next, the following turn picks another actor that appeared in that film (ex., Eddie Murphy).
5) And you continue jumping from movie to actor to movie, until you stump the other person. If that happens they get a "D". The first person who spells "DENIRO" is eliminated.

Try it out... it's a lot of fun!

The Queen is Dead?

2007-02-18T12:24:00.000-05:00

My dad (along with two of my uncles) used to own this place before it became "Queen's Dairy". It was first opened in 1977 and was called "Toronto Drive-In". Then we got the LLBO licence to serve alcohol, and that required a name change "Toronto's Burger and Steaks Restaurant".

Then a McDumps opened up next door and stole all of our business. My parents had no choice but to sell it in 1987.

This interview took place in 1983(or 82?). It was filmed in our diner:

You'll notice that the layout was pretty much the same as it was now. Just with the really loud orange seats that were so popular with mom and pop shops owned by Greeks? That's my cousin sitting next to Bono. :) Here's another clip of the same interview:

R.I.P.:

Bill O'Reilly's Day Off...From the Truth

2007-01-25T21:36:00.000-05:00

In the last decade or so, I've noticed that "the copycat" is starting to surpass “the original.” I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. I mean everything changes right? Eventually the old idea has to go away. We just get so used to the copycat that we forget the way we used to do things. We just don’t care because often enough, the copycat is way better. Here are a few quick examples of what I mean:

cash vs. debit cards
the telephone vs. cell phones
radio vs. podcasts
news media vs. blogging
analog cassette vs. digital storage
John Lennon vs. Bono
Peter Sellers vs. Sasha Baron Cohen
television vs. YouTube
The Vietnam War vs. US War on Terror (okay bad example)

Maybe the “the copycats” are better because they have all the time in the world to think about what “the originals” have done wrong all these years. Somewhat fixed the problems they were having, that prevented “the originals” from being as popular or successful as they currently are.

I mean sure, most of those things mentioned above are due to technological advances. But has Bono really surpassed what John Lennon was trying to do with his music/activist career? Does Sasha Baron Cohen really deserve the “genius comedian” status just from one successful film? Is it better to pay three dollars for a hot chocolate, with my debit card, when I have a 20 dollar bill in my pocket, that I’m saving for when I need the cash?

I don’t really need to listen to the radio or download your podcast to make my life better. If your ideas suck, your ideas suck. But if you’re good, and not a jackass, you have my attention.

In the 1980s, there was a little film that came out called “Ferris Bueller's Day Off.” All my friends, including myself, wanted to be Matthew Broderick from that movie. Then, eventually, a TV show called "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" hit the boobtube, and changed everything. It had the look and feel of a preppy Ferris, but the difference was it was on TV every week. I mean, Parker Lewis was totally a rip-off of Ferris Bueller. But the show worked. They parodied teenage life, with a smart-ass lead character, who foiled his principle every week. Sound familiar? “Ferris who?” While that show was at it’s peak, some Hollywood clowns thought they could cash in, and tried to make a Ferris Bueller TV show. It lasted 2 shows.

My point? Well, sometimes the original idea or concept gets rocked by the new guy. Case in point: Stephen Colbert vs Bill O'Reilly. The next two videos are a little childish and stupid, but then, so is high school.

Colbert vs. O'Reilly Part 1

Colbert vs. O'Reilly Part 2

I think it was The Beatles that said, "Take a sad song, and make it better"

Whacha Talkin' 'bout, Bruce Willis?

2007-01-20T11:02:00.000-05:00

Bruce Willis is cool. I like him. When I was a kid, I wanted to be him. I watched Moonlighting, and didn't care that they didn't have new shows. It was always good. Even the re-runs. And when Die Hard came out? Wow. That was wicked. I even liked Hudson Hawk. I think I was the only one that saw it in the theatres. So with a new Die Hard movie coming out? I figured I'd write something about him.

I just noticed something about Bruce Willis. He’s been in a bunch of movies where he’s had numbers in the title. Check it out yo:

1. Loaded Weapon 1 (un-credited appearance)
2. Look Who’s Talking Too
3. Die Hard 3: With a Vengeance
4. Four Rooms
5. The Fifth Element
6. The Sixth Sense
7. Lucky Number Slevin
8. Billy Bathg8 (or Blind D8)
9. The Whole Nine Yards
10. The Whole Ten Yards
11. ---
12. Twelve Monkeys (or Ocean's Twelve)
13. ---
14. ---
15. ---
16. 16 Blocks

Is this a coincidence? I've also thought of possible titles for future Bruce Willis films. They are: "The Eleventh Hour", "Friday the 13th - Part 13", "Four Teens, One Adult", "Louis XV of France"?

[pause]

Jeez, I gotta get a life.

Gotta Slow It Down Baby

2007-01-12T22:55:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry to have to say this but I actually like the Spice Girls.

I'm not a fan of all their songs. But when Spice World came out, I bought the album on cassette. My film "It's Not Easy Being Greek" was playing at the Montreal World Film Festival in 1998, and my girlfriend (at the time) and I listened to that album at least a dozen times both ways. Ever since then, I've been a fan. I have three of their songs (as mp3s) in my play-list at work to this day. And I don't really give a shit who knows it. Why? Read on...

Sure people have made fun of them in the past about how annoying they are. Before Live8, Sir Bob Geldof supposedly threatened the members of Pink Floyd with the possibility of bringing the Spice Girls back together, unless they got back together for his benefit show. They did in the end over the fact that “The world didn’t need the Spice Girls to get back together”.

I knew right off the bat that they were going to be huge once I saw "Wannabe" on Much for the first time. I was in film school at the time and I told everyone to watch out for them. I had a huge crush on Scary, and eventually, all of them.

When "Say You'll Be There" was playing on every radio station, “Girl Power” was finally kicking in. The movie that they made wasn't terrific, (an obvious Beatles' Hard Day's Night homage/rip-off/update). But it was entertaining (in parts). And like I said, I even got the cassette tape of Spice World, and had it in my car for years to follow. It was a secret I hadn't shared with anyone before. But looking back at it? Was it really that bad? I mean there have been so many “copy cats” that followed. I think The Pussy Cat Dolls (irony not included) came closest, but I only know one of their songs and hate it.

The whole point of Spice Girls music was about "the pop song". Forget the best friends bullshit, or the so-called "Girl Power" movement, or the cute names. They tried every style and were totally original. They also had some great producers who knew how to make a great love song (2 Become 1), Latin dance song (Spice Up Your Life), Pop songs about friends and lovers (Wannabe, Say You'll Be There), the Motown hit (Stop), and the Swan song (Viva Forever) that wasn’t really the last song they did, just the last good song they released. They even sold out with a song for Pepsi that wasn't as bad as Van Halen's "Right Now" (Move Over (Generation Next)).

What the hell am I getting at? Well today I was watching some taped episodes of AOTS, and they presented a video that really pissed me off. I present it to you via YouTube embedding below. Don't let the first shot of the sun fool you. There is no enlightenment in the next 3 minutes and 17 seconds of your life (once you actually hit the play button, I mean). You may even feel dumber after watching it.

I think the best comment I read on YouTube about this video is as follows:
"When they say "no way no way", it refers to anyone intelligent considering buying their record." -aliensporebomb (1 month ago)

Long live the Spice Girls. I miss you all so much. Call me.

Vancouver and it's rainy weather.

2007-01-10T23:15:00.000-05:00

I love the rain. Tonight more than ever I've realized that. I hate the snow we get in this country. And we've been so lucky that we haven't really had any snow stick this winter (in Toronto). About the only good thing I can think of about Vancouver is the rain. Maybe Stanley Park. Oh and the mountains.

This post is going to be about all the stereotypes I’ve heard from other people about Vancouver over the years. As much as I hate stereotypes, I kind of believe some of these things...

Downtown Vancouver is small. Well compared to Toronto, it's small. The two times I've been there, I've walked across the downtown core within 15-30 minute time period. I do walk pretty fast when I'm by myself. But Jesus, that's not very big. Again, that makes no difference...until you take into account...that...

Vancouver has a really bad homeless area. I can walk into any bad neighbourhood in Toronto, during the day, and not worry about getting jumped. But some parts in Vancouver...? You can't even drive through certain areas without the possibility of getting car jacked. Okay, I don't know if that's true. But it's what I want to believe. Plus there’s no subway. I can’t imagine living in a place with no subway. Where else are the homeless supposed to sleep?

Vancouver is filled with a bunch of hippies and dope heads. This is probably not true. But Toronto isn’t any better. Not that I have anything against drugs. I personally don't need them to have a good time. I want more people, especially in the arts community, to take more drugs. They’ll make better movies that way. Kevin Smith, who coincidently went to Vancouver Film School for a year, made a sequel to Clerks that blew monkey balls. I hate it when people's movies blow monkey balls.

Vancouver is an hour away from the U.S. So is Toronto if you think about it. But Buffalo is less obnoxious than Seatle. And there's also Niagara Falls to consider. Oh wait.

I've lived in Toronto all my life. I can't imagine ever leaving it. Because it is, to me, the best city in the world to live in, hands down. Sure it’s gotten worse with the violence, but if you’re white like me, it’s still better compared to other places with white people.

But I will leave it one day. I would one day for you.

Also Star Wars was released on May 25, 1977. Check Wikipedia. Not June 24th, 1977.

PDD's FRIEND DIANA PART IV: A NEW HOPE

2007-01-07T22:48:00.000-05:00

Diana:

"If music be the food of love, play on,
Journeys end in lovers meeting,
My only love sprung from my only hate,
You've made me want to stop beating."

It needs work.

Happy New Year

2007-01-02T00:03:00.000-05:00

Here's a list I made on TenSpotting

2006-12-27T01:11:00.000-05:00

More About This List - Create Your Own List - Tenspotting.com

Paranoid Empire

2006-12-21T22:55:00.000-05:00

I was bored. Enjoy.

Year In Review

2006-12-17T22:20:00.000-05:00

The year is almost over and I wanted to write one more post, as I know I’ll be pretty busy in the next two weeks with family stuff and other holiday events. So now was a good time to do it before the madness begins.

You know, I started to write this post with a statement about how crappy this year was. I wrote this long rant about how I haven’t really been able to hook up with anyone. I even listed off a number of things that happened, that I did, or others did to me, that wasn’t really cool. I was about to publish it...but then stopped...walked away from the computer...and sat on the futon here in the basement.

I thought about it a while and realized that I was wasting my time with all the negative things that have happened. I erased it and started writing this.

Socially, it’s been a good and bad year. The good side of things I won’t get into as it's too personal to share in a blog that my friends and complete strangers read. The bad side was most of it was too good to be true. All I can say is that I’ve met some really cool ladies this last year. I'm glad I've stayed friends with most of them.

Film-wise? I did a lot! Earlier this year, I made that Empire Strikes Back scene with action figures, and even won an award for it. Not to mention the number of hits and really great comments I got on YouTube. That was better than the award itself. Just the fact that over 52,000 people have watched something I did is pretty friggin’ amazing! I only hope I can pull off the next sequence I want to do. Not to mention finishing the movie for 2010 (crossing my fingers).

I even got back to my recording roots by shooting sound on a short movie here in Toronto, and designing the over all sound for two other short films for a friend in the UK. I even edited two wedding videos (which were more nightmarish than fun, but at least they’re both done, and I never have to do it again).

I got to go to Greece. I got to see my favorite comedian, Brian Regan, twice in the States, on two awesome road trips. The news of him coming up to Toronto in Feb 2007 is also the best news I’ve heard all month.

I watched my two nieces have their first birthday’s. I baptized one of them as well, which was a total honor. I've watched five of my friends get married. Got to see the Frantics live and for free! Holy crap... I almost forgot that I met Carrie Fisher. And sat in the same row at TIFF with Sasha Baron Cohen!

Finally, the best part of this year was being able to hang out with my friend’s Mike and Amy (aka Michel and Aimee Mangez), every week, and start a blog with them about cheap and delicious diners/restaurants in and around Toronto. You can check that out here: Mangez A Trois.

So what the hell am I complaining about? I don't know. I think having a blog makes it easier to rant and complain. I mean, writing about positive things? It's so hard to do that and make it entertaining for those people who are actually reading it. Who wants to read about how great one person's life is? I don't.

My friend Mary-Louise once told me that the outcome of your day depended on how you started it. So every morning, while still in bed, she'd think of all the things she was going to accomplish, and just did it. I never understood that until I started writing this post. I don’t think I could see myself sitting in bed, thinking about all the things I want to do that day. Or how I would live my life, let alone that morning.

So instead, I’d rather just write this post and say that 2007 is going to be better. Not just for me, or you, but for everyone. There’s no sense in writing about ones mistakes. Just remember that you made them and will continue to make them. I know I fucked up a lot this year. I’m human. Get over it.

I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday and an amazing and productive 2007. And no I won't edit your wedding video even though it would be awesome.

Future cougars beware.

PS3 vs the Wii

2006-11-22T00:00:00.000-05:00

I had this crazy idea the other day about waiting in line for one of the above consoles. It lasted for about 10 minutes when I realised that I don't even bother playing with my PS2 anymore. Who has the time? Although, the Wii fits my price range, and the fact that it has that cool controller. Maybe after Christmas. We'll see.

I wish I had more to say about this, but I'm not really a gamer. So I'll just let this video do the talking.

This sucks....

2006-11-05T16:11:00.000-05:00

So last night my bag got stolen from my car. I had my ipod shuffle, my headphones (that were falling apart anyway), my usb key (with all my work mail on it), and my digital camera. I also had some papers in there, my wrist watch (that I never wear anymore), an over-night kit, a clean pair of underwear (you never know) and a towel that a friend of mine got me while we were in Japan last year.

Needless to say, the passenger door was left open, and it was my fault not to tell my friend to make sure he locked his door when we parked it. After we found out I'd been robbed, I didn't want to bring the “party down” over material things, and just sucked it up, and continued hanging out with my friends until around 1am.

I later went back to the scene of the crime, (at that point it was 1:30am) and looked around for my dumped bag, as I remembered (thanks to crime shows) that most thieves only want the expensive stuff and throw away the rest (thanks again TV!). I found some pieces of paper that were mine, the pair of underwear and towel (which were still clean) and a glue stick I bought for Halloween decorations on Tuesday. No bag though. It was a nice messenger style/computer bag, so I don’t blame them for not dumping it.

I didn't really care about the other stuff. The camera was the only thing I didn't want to lose. The ipod I got for 50 bucks. And I was bound to loose the thing anyway.

The camera though cost me $700 (when it came out three years ago) and like the relationship that Luke and R2 had, we'd been through a lot together that little camera and me. It was pretty roughed up at this point. So much that it's probably worth $100? I dropped it the first day I was in Greece this summer and there was a little piece of tape holding the battery cover down. So I doubt the thieves will get top dollar for the thing. Overall, they'll probably get a good $150 bucks for everything in there.

The last thing I forgot to mention that was taken were the collection of postcards I always carry around in that bag. It's called, "The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Cards: 30 Postcards" and I bought for $5 at Winners before I left for Greece this year. It's based on the popular book of the same name, but done in postcard format.

I had it in my bag, just in case I planned going somewhere new, somewhere I'd never been to. I would send back a postcard to myself, from the new location, and put it back in the box that I could file away. The card I picked would relate to something that happened on the trip. I'd only sent one postcard back to myself from Greece. It was a “How to survive falling into train tracks, a phobia I’ve had since I was a kid. So it's in the box as you read this. Hopefully, if the thieves sell the cards off, someone may be nice enough to contact me and return that card at least. It probably won’t happen. Let’s hope that the person is internet savvy and decides to google my name when and if they find it. We'll see.

Anyway, I'm a bit depressed about all this. This year has not been that great overall. Now I just need to figure out when I can actually afford to buy a new camera. I still have another year for my flickr account, and I can’t imagine not being able to upload new stuff because of this.

Some tips for surfing the web at work

2006-10-18T23:50:00.000-04:00

A while back, I think it was in May of this year, my friend Sandra (aka Rabsy of From the Bum of Bees fame) mentioned in her blog that she doesn't like checking her emails via the internets at work. For some strange reason I wrote all this as a comment to her. Yes, I'm struggling for content that I'm actually reprinting comments from other blogs.

Some tips for surfing the web at work. By Peter Kambasis

1)Use another computer. When you get a chance, walk around the office and start noting (mentally) all the fools who don't lock their computers. When they get up and leave, use their computers. You'll discover they're usually people who have pictures of their cat on their desk. These people have other things on their minds (like their cat[s] - who is alone at home). Take advantage of this weakness. If they catch you at their desk, just keep saying, "Meow, meow, meow, meow...meow" and walk away.

2)Instead of logging onto your web based e-mail site, get a gmail address, and forward all your e-mail to your work account. That's one less page you'll visit that day and your friends will totally be surprised when you answer back so quickly. Also, move your .pst Outlook file onto a portable USB drive and copy/delete all sent emails from that folder. That way you leave no evidence behind.

3)If you're a great speller, and everyone knows this, purposely mis-spell words in your e-mails to your friends. That way if they do track you, you can say, "That e-mail was obviously written by an idiot" and that you're obviously being set up. Your boss will probably believe you because he/she is probably an idiot.

4) If you absolutely need to visit a google or microsoft site, make sure you can justify the reason for doing so. In other words, I do searches on google all the time... but from time to time, I need to visit their google maps section to find an address (for work). So when I finish my site search for useless and mindless crap, I click on the "maps" link, do a search for an address on the order I'm working on. That way if they say "You visited google on this day" I just say, "Um, yeah? I visit google maps all the time. They have those stupid ads on the side and I might have clicked on some of them in error?" Believe me, your boss is usually too dumb to know if that's true or not. If you make up things about the internet, you most often can get a way with it.

5)Avoid XXX sites and don't look for porn. Don't bother looking for HNT or j-skat either. Also avoid typing "boobies" in image search sites. A lot of people are misspelling the name of a bird and the last thing you want to do is make people think you're a bird watcher.

6)Clean out your browsers cookies and cache every night. I'm serious. EVERY NIGHT. It doesn't matter that you didn't use the internet that day. One of your co-workers might have when you got up to clean the frame of that cat picture you have on your desk.

7)Play it safe; Have sex with your boss. Then have sex with all of your co-workers just to shut them up for sleeping with your boss. When your boss makes you a senior analyst, you can then ignore the last 6 rules.

Pizza, I mean, Jabba the Hutt!

2006-10-03T23:50:00.000-04:00

One of the coolest characters in Jedi... immortalized as a 12" figure.

Sideshow...What will you think of next?!

I really do like to dance.

2006-09-29T01:10:00.000-04:00

A few years ago I took a breakdancing class with a bunch of 12-14 year olds. I didn't really do it because I wanted to be a breakdancer. I just did it because I thought it would make me cool. Okay, I'm lying, I was getting fat and needed some exercise.

I was shooting some of The Wife Beaters episodes back then, and one of the episodes I had planned shooting next was suppose to involve me and J battling a couple of b-girls. So I wanted to get some of the moves down. It's harder than it looks man. And you really need to have a lot of upper body strength to pull off some of those moves.

Needless to say, I wanted to learn popping and locking. If you don't know what that is... check out this video:

Get this video and more at MySpace.com

I don't know what to think of this.

2006-09-24T15:54:00.000-04:00

Marty...please...put Leo aside for now. Put Bobby back in at least one more tough guy role and I will never bother you again for anything for the rest of my life. For the love of Willem Dafoe as Christ.

Going, going....

2006-09-22T23:57:00.000-04:00

3 Minutes from now, my birthday ends. And life starts over again. Just like the Matrix.

Borat: It's a-Nice!

2006-09-22T21:26:00.000-04:00

So last week wrapped up the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). And thank god it's over. I can't stand the lines and I can't stand how crazy people get just to see a "movie". What's wrong with people today? Are they all freakin' bonkers? In a few months it'll be out in the theatre (or Pacific Mall, depending you're nationality and/or background).

Then I found out the Borat movie was premiering here. Holy shit! I so wanted to see it. Yes I'm a hypocrite.

So my buddy Mike's girlfriend Jewelle has been going to TIFF for the last few years. She grabbed a 30 pack (I think?) and the only one she got 4 tickets for was the Borat film. They asked me to go, and naturally I was willing to wait in line for something like that. Especially after seeing the trailers for that film.

Turns out Sacha Baron Cohen was going to be there that night too. I thought, oh great... this is going to be a nightmare... Turns out it wasn't that bad. Considering that Mike's sister and I arrived 15 minutes before we had to go in, the line started moving right after we got there. a-Nice!

So we get our seats in the back of the theatre. I mean, literally, we were at the very last row, dude. The doors were right behind us. And the festival people kept slamming them closed, because this was happening outside....

Anyway, Borat eventually comes out to greet everyone. At this point it's around 12:30am...

...oh yeah they were back sooner than they thought. As you might have heard, after about 15-20 minutes into the film, for a world premiere movie and one of the most anticipated films of the year... the projector breaks down!!! Everyone's mouths just drop. They are devastated! The world is now in limbo. Starving people in Ethiopia were heard screaming "Why them??" into the night sky. Alien life forms were just about to make contact, and reveal their hover technology to us, but quickly change their minds after this juvenile display. It was horrible.

All I kept on thinking was, "Welcome to Ryerson. Home of the 40 year old equipment."

After 10 minutes of waiting around I noticed that Larry Charles and Michael Moore are talking and they soon make there way out the door. Apparently Michael Moore used to work as a projectionist back in the day, and offers a hand in the projection room...

After about 20 minutes (since the projector broke down), Michael Moore and Larry Charles take the stage to answer some questions. Any questions. I'm serious. They were really good sports about it. And it was entertaining. There's video of that on YouTube, but it sounds like crap. But there's really good video of Borat coming up on stage and doing the Q and A that they promised for the end of the film.

So they reschedule the film for the next night at the Elgin, and I can't go to it. I actually had a date with someone I had just met, and I really wanted to hang out with her. Big deal, right? The movie was coming out in November... The first twenty minutes of the movie was awesome. I got a taste of what was coming. The crowds were over-reacting a bit with the film itself. So maybe it'll be different with "normal" people, seeing it in a "normal" theatre. Mike did see it the next night, and he said that he hadn't laughed so hard in 10 years.

I was regretting not going. Not that same night that Mike was telling me about the film and how amazing it was. No, I was regretting it two days later when the girl I went out with on Friday said she never wanted to see me again. In an email and to my work account of all places. Even though she said to me on Friday that she had a really nice time? Jesus Christ. I didn't even bother trying to figure that one out. All I kept on thinking was "I gave up seeing Borat for her?"

Well cut to last Wednesday (Sept 20th)... Actually, cut to a few days before the 20th, I think I was reading someone's profile on MySpace when I saw that they had Borat on their friends list. I thought, "Cool! I'll add Borat on mine too!" So I did. Then I see that there's a friend called "Black Carpet Event" in Borat's friends list? Turns out MySpace is having a bunch of screening for upcoming movies called "Black Carpet Event"... and the Borat film was screening again in Toronto, along with 20 other cities across North America! For Free! So to make a long story short (too late) I ended up going to the screening and didn't have to wait until November.

It wasn't the funniest movie I'd ever seen, (a lot of it was staged... if you know anything about documentaries... you could tell). But it did have some of the funniest scenes I've ever seen, period. Mr. Cohen, in my opinion, is becoming the next Peter Sellers. But lets hope he can keep it up with fresh new characters, eventually. I have a feeling that these ones will be getting old, faster than transport down a well.

"Greeks are just like Jews without the money"
-David Sedaris

Sam Jackson: Hero for the Masses

2006-09-06T23:46:00.000-04:00

Need I say more?

I Love Carrie Fisher. She Knows.

2006-09-05T00:04:00.000-04:00

Okay so this weekend I went to the Fan Expo Show here in Toronto, and I got a chance to meet Carrie Fisher! Cool eh? She played, like, Princess Leia, dude. She was really nice, and I even gave her a copy of the Carbon Freeze Sequence! She was really nice about the whole thing and said she'd even watch it! It doesn't even matter to me that she was probably lying, I got to meet Carrie Fisher! :)

Speaking of TCFS (like the new acronym?), we got a runner-up prize from that contest over in the UK. I think the exact award was the Jedi (18 and over) Award for Best Creativity. You can read more about the winner of the grand prize here. Apparently he was crazy enough to do something... get this... original! :)

My computer's drive died

2006-09-04T20:06:00.000-04:00

Twice now I get a Maxtor drive and it failed on me. And what do I do? I go out and buy a third Maxtor drive. Idiot. It's the cheapest drive out there... and I can't afford to buy the other ones. But I don't think it's the drive itself... I think my computer may have something to do with it. We'll see what happens... I'm just not putting any more important info on my main drive without backing it up first.

This is the reason why I haven't been online for a while. With the trip to Greece, I came back to work, and started cleaning up the basement. Then the computer fails and I have no software to re-install everything, as those disks didn't fit in my bag, so I stuffed them in my mother's bags and needed to wait until she got back to the country before I could use them.

So I get it up and running, and everything that I install is screwed up. Apparently the order of install affects my computer operating system... and so I have to start over and figure out what I did wrong. I don't get it done, because my other obligations start popping up...

Meeting up with friends I haven't seen in such a long time, going out with work buddies, taking the ladies out for dinner. I was out every night these past two weeks. I have a feeling that the credit card companies had hired special agents from the government to hypnotize me into spending more money than I make. I guess to make up for the fact that for 3 weeks I hadn't used my card once while I was in Greece.

And then by having the drive die last week, well that was the last straw... I said screw it, I'm waiting until I get the cash to pay for a new drive. So I did. And now I'm back online. The End.

43 Places

2006-09-04T19:49:00.000-04:00

So there's this website I visit from time to time called 43places.com? And it lets me keep track of all the places I've gone to, and plan to go to. It's actually pretty cool. I like uploading photos there, and writing about little places I've found on any of my travels. Okay sure I haven't been to that many places, but I'm not made outta money! This stuff is expensive.

If you don't know about this site, check it out. You don't need to make an account to view the entries, but if you're thinking about travelling somewhere, it's a great place to start! The name comes from the idea that we all travel to an average of 43 places in our lifetime. When I hear stuff like that, it feels like a challenge to go to more.

Hello from Greece!

2006-08-02T07:13:00.000-04:00

Well, I've been here for almost a week...and it's been awesome! Check out some of the photos on my flickr site. This week alone we've been in Athens, Nafpaktos (my mom's village), Lambiri (my uncle's summer home) and currently I'm writing from a little island called Zakynthos (also known as Zante). I'm just in a little internet cafe uploading the photos we took from here...as I've backed up the rest on my computer in Nafpaktos. I'll make sure to upload those photos when I get back there. Right now I'm spending 6 bucks/hour for internet. Please don't mind the spelling mistakes as I really don't have time to check them...!

Anyway, hopefully I will post more this next week... hope your summer is going well! Talk soon....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/polyergos/

Off to Greece

2006-07-27T10:15:00.000-04:00

Hey everybody. Sorry for the lack of posting. Been getting ready for my trip all week and I finally had some time to update the blog before I go!

First, do you remember the Carbon Freeze Sequence I made last month with a few friends? Well it's going to be on TV tonight (if you live in Canada)! Tune into G4TechTV (cable 250) at 8pm! Not too many people know about this, but they actually air the episode earlier in the day (at 8am!), so I got up early today, (even though my plane doesn't leave until 6pm tonight) to tape it! Anyway, for my American friends who don't get our version of G4 (i don't know why it's different), the show is called Torrent, and for some reason, somebody's already posted episode 14 on YouTube? I wonder who this muthaComputer character is?

The other big news is I go to work, right? And when I go to my Outlook, I see a message from Hasbro. The film is a finalist at the Artoos!!! It takes place on Aug 13th, and I've decided to fly to the UK, from Greece, just for the screening/award ceremony! Wish me luck. I honestly think we won't win anything. But we're still going to take pictures, and maybe some video of the event...

Yeah, so I guess that's it? I thought I had more to say, but I guess not. I will be posting a ton of photos, and maybe making a few posts while I'm away. But internet access is limited out there... and expensive too considering they're still on ISDN connections!! What the hell Greece? Upgrade already!

Oh and if you want me to send you a postcard from Greece, use the link above to contact me and send me your address (if you haven't already).

Peace in Greece. See ya!