Symba 42! Symba 42! Set! Hut Hut!

Well good Monday Morning to you all! I hope the weekend fount you well. It certainly did me and left me with lots to talk about.

I spent a good portion of the weekend in Toronto with some friends. On Saturday afternoon seeing the much acclaimed Lion King Musical and then visited Planet Hollywood for dinner. Sunday the same group went back to Toronto to see the Toronto Argonauts dispose of the B.C. Lions in the CFL East Division Semi-finals. But we’ll get to that in a second. First, Lion King.

We ended up with absolulety great seats. We had a balcony that overlooked the stage very nicely. In the opening scene where Symba is presented to the other animals we actually had an actor in our balcony with us who sang for a few moments. It was pretty neat to be right in the middle of the performance.

The story follows almost the exact story of the movie with a few added scens and obviously a lot of added songs. As I say though, there are a few scenes added like a kind of creepy interaction between Scar and Nala where Scar tries to make her his queen. Come on. the guy’s old enough to be Symba’s uncle yet he’s tryin’ to get with Symba’s childhood best friend and future wife…. that was a bit creepy but I digress.

The production is filled with lots and lots of humour, some great songs not heard in the movie, some unbelievable singing voices (Nala to me having the best voice, though my friends will argue Rafiki) and even some pretty cool stunt scenes like Mufassa’s death and Scar’s fall from Pride Rock at the end of the production. The 2 actors who played Nala and Symba as children were only 9 years old and did work far beyond their years both with the dramatic aspect, as well as their singing.

If you ever have the chance to get in and see this I would STRONGLY reccomend you do so. Whether you be a music fan, a Disney fan, or both you will definitely enjoy it. It’s easy to see why people have raved about it for so long.

Sunday as I said we went to see the Argo playoff game. Was the first time any of us had been to CFL game and it was great. I feel bad for the boys who play on the Argo teams. They actually draw decent crowds, right in around league average but since they play in the SkyDome (a 60 000 seat stadium for those of you who don’t know) it always looks empty and the crowd seems silent because of the room the sound has to cover. Montreal may play in a small stadium but it’s one that opposing teams fear because the crowd just seems that much louder. Anyway…. the crowd was great yesterday and was very in to the game.

Many will say that the Argo’s only got through yesterday because of the fact that Dickenson did not play for B.C.! To that I’ll say shut the hell up because you must have not watched the game. The Argo’s were not going to be beaten by B.C. yesterday. Allen played a great game at QB for T.O. and the defense was very strong not letting B.C. get any momentum. The Toronto defense sacked the Lions QB’s at least 4 times yesterday. it simply didnt’ matter who was playing for B.C., Toronto was going to move on. They’re in tough against Montreal next weekend though. As much as I’d like to see the Argo’s move on I believe the Allouette’s will prove to be too much. Fingers crossed though.

On a friendly little side note. It’s $3.75 for a Coke, $12.00 for a beer and $150.00 for a souvenire CFL football. It’s not a cheap day out, but fun nonetheless.

Lastly, thanks to Steve for keeping the posts coming this weekend as I simply had no time. He did a great job and I’ve read some of his stuff. If you haven’t scrolled down yet to see what he posted this weekend, I suggest you do so.

More later.

Straight Out Of Left Field

This is kind of a weird one. I was talking to my girlfriend about names and somehow we got thinking about guys named Lynn. I think it started out as a conversation about guys with girly names and how weird it is. We were trying to think of girly named guys either famous or otherwise but we’re both completely stuck for Lynns, other than some guy on a listserve.

I did a search with the exact term “guys named Lynn” and found out that there are actually quite a few guys named Lynn, at least in America circa the 1970’s. A scan of
the top 1000 most popular names of the 1970’s
shows that Lynn was the 169th most popular girls name in that decade appearing in the sample 869 times, and the 539th most used name among baby boys appearing 121 times. There were 876,690 men in the sample taken to make the list. Granted that doesn’t average out to be all that many Lynns, but considering that this is only 1 decade in 1 country and that there were 461 names less popular than that I’m thinking that quite a few Lynns are out there, and that it’s entirely possible that more than 1 of them could be reading this idiotic rambling at this exact moment. Thing is, I can’t name a single one of you, which is why I’m even bothering to post this in the first place. So if you know any men named Lynn, or if you happen to be one, please let me know so next time this comes up I’ll be able to win by firing off Lynns like a mofo.

By the way, just for the sake of keeping you all informed, the most popular names of the 1970’s are Michael for boys, appearing in the sample 35226 times, and Jennifer for girls, 29070 times. On the other end of the scale we have Darby for the guys, showing up 37 times and Roxanna for the ladies coming in with 67 entries. For the sake of accuracy, the list actually goes beyond 1000 even though it wasn’t supposed to, not sure why that is. For the sake of what we were doing here I just used the top 1000. If you want to see the rest hit the link above. You can also find the same info for other decades if you feel the need. But hey, do that after you find me some Lynns!

Random Things

Sorry for the lack of posts yesterday. Trust me, it wasn’t for lack of trying. Things just kept distracting me and that combined with the fact that the posting system was on crack last night kind of prevented me from doing anything productive other than fucking up the site, which I think is fixed now.

The second post you’ll read, the one right after this one was actually written last night but didn’t see the light of day until just now. Ok it saw the light of day twice, but I don’t think anybody saw it.

I guess there was a small error in the html and it felt obligated to let me know about it when I hit post and publish which is funny in itself because I’ve screwed up before and it hasn’t said a goddamn thing. It’s perfectly happy to let me turn a whole post into one big fucking link but miss one less than sign and oh my God, the world is gonna end. I ended up just canceling the whole post out so I could go back and fix it but for some reason it felt the need to post it anyway. So I fixed it and went back to post it again, but for some reason it put that same error back in. Not sure how that happened but I know it wasn’t my fault. I thought it must be the site being dumb so I posted it again. Then I check the site to see what was going on and neither post was showing up. Fantastic. So I head back to the interface to edit it and see that it’s posted twice. I delete both of them and the one about spyware from earlier in the week that got messed up. Not the good one, that one’s still there. The site doesn’t show any changes until I come back this morning and publish the stuff from yesterday again. Now everything is fine. I’m still not sure how my links can break on the way to where they need to go, but whatever. I hate the internet.

Another thing I hate is my body. I haven’t had a good night of sleep in over a week now and I don’t know why. I’ve had sleep problems for years but it seemed like in the last month or so I’d finally gotten things cleared up. I was feeling better, I wasn’t dragging myself around and feeling tired anymore. Now I’m back to that and I’m not happy about it. There’s no reason why I should be awake at 5 in the morning writing a blog, and my body knows that. It just won’t let me sleep, even though I need it. If any of you have any tricks or anything for getting to or staying asleep, let me know, I’d love to hear about them.

Ok, this post sucks, but I just thought I would explain what was up with the site in case anybody noticed anything strange last night. If you continue to notice strange things please
let me know through email.
Don’t post on the boards about it since I’ll see an email before I’ll see a comment and it would be nice to know as soon as possible so I can figure out what’s going on and fix it.

I’ll be back later with something better than this.

Writer’s Block

Note: I actually wrote this yesterday but between a combination of being tired, sidetracked with other things, and our posting system being on crack, it didn’t make it up. Actually I think it did but more on that in a few minutes. Enjoy the post, if this isn’t the third or fourth time you’re seeing it, it’s not showing up on the site when I go there but that doesn’t seem to mean much.

Today has been a very uneventful day. I haven’t really done much worth noting, there isn’t anything going on in the news today that screams at me to write about it, and there isn’t much on TV right now. I’ve got the news on in the background and the hockey game is about to start but this has just been one of those days where nothing is grabbing my interest in a serious way. I hate days like this. Days where you feel like you should be doing something but aren’t sure exactly what that is. Days where you feel creative and your mind is telling you that you are but then decides to go on lunch break when you sit down and try to form that creativity into something. Days like this aren’t really very good for blogging either but hey, here I am. I figure there’s only one thing to do in a situation like this when postworthy thoughts are hard to come by, and that’s link to other people’s things. Sadly, that’s the best idea I’ve had all damn day, so here we go.

If you’re looking for some more blog action, why not give
Karine
a try. She likes us enough to link to us, so check her out. She also hates Fred Durst so she’s cool with me by default even though there are a couple of Bizkit songs that I don’t mind too much.

Our man Armagideon Time has gone and changed his site address since he says he screwed something up,
so check that out too. Guy’s got some interesting stuff floating around in his head. Worth a look for certain, and you’ll probably wanna make it a favourite. I’m thinking that both of those links will end up over on the right in the near future since they were both nice enough to link back to us so if for some reason you don’t bookmark or give a click right away, you can do so later on.

If you’re in a reading about wrestling frame of mind, you can check out
this review of Steve Austin’s book.
Sounds like it could be an interesting read, and I’m sure it’s gonna sell like crazy.

Also on the wrestling front we have
Wrestle Crap,
which is always bringing everything craptacular your way. If you like wrestling and you’re a fan of laughter, then this is your place.

And if you need a little music to pass your time away, why not head over to the home of
Brad Sucks,
my new favourite 1 man band. He’s got a heaping load of free musical goodness for download and I have very little doubt that you’ll like at least a couple of songs. If you find yourself getting into it, buy his album, it’s only $5 American. Anybody can afford that, even Canadians like me.

While you’re there, snag yourself a copy of
Outside The Inbox,
a compilation of songs inspired by the subject lines of Spam emails. It too is only 5 bucks. I own one, and I’m going to own the Brad Sucks album quite soon I’m thinking since I’m really digging some of this stuff.

Ok, that should keep you busy for awhile I think. If not, check out all the stuff on the right, there’s a fair bit of it there and I’m sure you can find something fun, and more is on the way so keep checking it out.

This post took forever to write. I started it at 7 o’clock and it’s about 10 to 10 now. Man did I ever get sidetracked. I’m not even going to mention the horrible play of the Leafs tonight, they don’t even deserve publicity after a game like that. Actually it wasn’t so much a game as it was a sound thrashing.

I’m off to lay on the couch and fall asleep watching TV now. Feel free to
email me your feedback
or leave it on the boards. Thanks for checking out the site and thanks for all the nice feedback and links to us. Even if you hate us, thanks anyway, I’m feeling generous today. Yes, generous and sleepy. I’m done.

Weird

I’m really not sure what’s gotten into people lately. First we had the guy who swam over Niagara Falls and now this that I just read in
This Is True.

HEY, WATCH THIS! Two police officers on routine patrol in a New South
Wales, Australia, park saw a man on top of a block of toilets set
himself on fire, climb onto a bicycle, and then jump the bike toward a
pile of mattresses. He missed. The officers rushed over to find the
unnamed 39-year-old suffering from burns and broken bones — and still
on fire. They dumped a garbage bin full of water on the man and got him
to a hospital, where he is in serious condition. Police noted there
were quite a few spectators for the stunt. (Australian AP) …He’s 39
years old and trying to impress people with stupid bicycle tricks?
Yeah, that’s the very definition of “cool”.

Don’t ask me why that makes me laugh so much, I’m really not sure. I think it’s just the picture I’m getting in my head of how it all would have went down. More later, topics permitting.

Hallowe’en Countdown. Last Edition

Well, it’s an emotional day. It’s the last installment for the Hallowe’en Countdown which really wasn’t a countdown since there was no particular order. And I’ll admit this is is a very anti-climactic end to the “countdown” as there have been more amusing edtions… but it’s still good and it’s still hard to be done with. Anyway here it is. Down the road we’ll find some Christmas fun but for now, let’s just deal with this.

—
can’t tell you how it began, when it began, or why it began — but it happened. “Ghoul-Aid,” a series of Halloween beverage mixes from the fine folks running Kraft’s Kool-Aid factory, sought to capitalize on the season we love so much with spooky flavors and devilish pictures of the Kool-Aid Man in vampire garb. To say this was the defining moment of mankind is a gross understatement; the reality is, every culture and every race in the entire universe can look to the debut of Ghoul-Aid as the benchmark by which all other events must be compared. In fewer words, I really, really like the stuff.

There were several varieties of Ghoul-Aid available, though “Scary Blackberry” seems to have been the only one to receive a wide release in the States. This, by default, makes a handful of other countries much better than ours. World leaders, take note. Wars are a thing of the past. Conflicts can be resolved and victorious nations can be named simply by determining who has the most available varieties of Ghoul-Aid. Bring our boys home; pour them a cup of liquid sugar high. Yeah. Flavor aside, the real coup was all in the packaging — a Dracula version of the Kool-Aid Man is the kind of thing that shapes the dreams and doodles of any third-grader, or in this case, a really bored guy in his mid 20s. Rumors persist that Ghoul-Aid is a permanent addition — something that’s dusted off year after year during the Halloween season — but I’ve had no luck finding it. That might put the cool drawing of the Ghoul-Aid Man on the shelf, but for those wondering what this “Scary Blackberry” crap tasted like, there’s still hope.

If you’ve never seen the Kool-Aid F.A.Q., you don’t know what you’re missing. The immense document covers everything from how to make “Kool-Aid Toast” to at least 30 different tutorials on how to dye your hair with the shit, and when it comes to lost flavors, the F.A.Q. has you covered. I’m not sure when it was last updated (seems to have been running from at least 1998, if not earlier), but according to some guy named Michael Cooper, “Scary Blackberry” is but a single trip to the local grocer away.

In his words: “Just a note to let you all know I mixed up my own Scary Blackberry tonight, just a little different than the recipe given by Kraft. I actually mixed grape, cherry, and tropical punch and three cups of sugar together in a three quart pitcher and then diluted it accordingly into my storage pitchers. For the record, I can’t say it tastes exactly like Scary Blackberry, because I’ve never had any. I will say that it tastes *exactly* like a mix of those three flavors, with the tropical punch flavor being most dominant. The color, however, is a great Halloween blood reddish-purple.”

Well, if it’s good enough for this Michael Cooper guy, it’s good enough for me…

I had to substitute “Blastin’ Berry Cherry” for “Cherry,” but I found the right “Grape” and “Tropical Punch” flavors. Had to dig through a huge pile of Kool-Aid’s “Mad Scientist” flavors that had magical changing colors and other weird crap, but if that’s what I gotta do to get myself some Ghoul-Aid, I can take it. I was probably a little off with the flavor-to-flavor ratio, but after adding enough sugar to lure ants as far away as Guam, the end results seemed on the mark:

Well I’ll be! Though technically not “Scary Blackberry,” the mixture is indeed an intensely deep red and tastes pretty much exactly how a blackberry-flavored Kool-Aid should. Incredible stuff, actually. I’m not a big Kool-Aid aficionado, but I still drank six or seven cups in succession before finally succumbing to the sugar rush by running around the ceiling singing that song Frasier belts out in his ending credits. This was gooood drinkin’. Who knew the key to harmony lied in a glass of Scary Blackberry Ghoul-Aid? I mean, besides Michael Cooper?

Finally, a reason to obey your thirst. Fuck Sprite.

I’m not sure if they were available here, but at least in Canada, other varieties of Ghoul-Aid popped up. “Scary Black Cherry” and “Eerie Orange” can’t match the charm of the original, but it’s nice to have options if you wanted to drink Halloween Kool-Aid but had a peculiar distaste for anything blackberry-flavored. Unfortunately, instead of wearing the vampire suit, these follow-ups pictured the Kool-Aid Man with nothing more than a cheesy black wrap-around bandana — a costume that would’ve seemed way more pitiful if the guy wasn’t already a living pitcher full of fruit punch.

Anyway, I guess that’s all. For those interested, I wasn’t kidding about that makeshift mixture. It’s really tasty. As for the “real” varieties of Ghoul-Aid, who knows? Maybe Kraft’ll surprise us. Maybe they won’t. Maybe they won’t. Maybe they will. Maybe maybe they they won’t will will won’t. God, I drank too much Kool-Aid.
===
And with that, Hallowe’en is over forever! Well, for a year or so.

Be Safe

Top 10 Signs You Are Too Old To Be Trick Or Treating

10. You get winded from knocking on the door.

9. You have to have another kid chew the candy for you.

8. You ask for high fiber candy only.

7. When someone drops a candy bar in your bag, you lose your balance and fall over.

6. People say, “Great Keith Richards mask!” and you’re not wearing a mask.

5. When the door opens you yell, “Trick or…” and can’t remember the rest.

4. By the end of the night, you have a bag full of restraining orders.

3. You have to carefully choose a costume that won’t dislodge your hairpiece.

2. You’re the only Power Ranger in the neighborhood with a walker.

1. You avoid going to houses where your ex-wives live.

Famous People

Just read a couple things that I thought were worth mentioning. First, Vanilla Ice is 35 today. Happy birthday to him. I respect Vanilla Ice for a few reasons. For one thing, he hardly ever puts out music anymore and when he does, it doesn’t show up on radio and haunt me everywhere I go. But when I think about it, I’d rather hear his stuff than some of the shit we’re subjected to these days.

Another thing I like about him is that for a guy who’s career has basicly been dead since 1992, he’s amazing at making sure people don’t forget him by coming back just enough to make us remember before going away again. We don’t get any sort of Vanilla over-saturation like we get with other celebs. You can count on hearing about him every couple years or so pretty much like clockwork. There was that metal album he did, that boxing match he had for the celebrity boxing special, and I think he even did a song with The Bloodhound Gang at one point. He’s made being washed up in public into an artform and for that he deserves something, although what that is I’m not really sure.

I also respect the fact that he’s not a whore like Pam Anderson, or at least the fact that if he is, he’s smart enough to keep his fool mouth shut about it. Just saw this on Rolling Stone and for some reason it pissed me off.

PAM BOUNCES BETWEEN TOMMY, KID ROCK

Just three days after KID ROCK publicly serenaded
on-again/off-again fiance PAMELA ANDERSON at a New York City bar,
she was seen holding hands and kissing ex-husband TOMMY LEE at the
Los Angeles premiere of “Scary Movie 3,” according to the new issue
of “Us Weekly.” “I see [Kid and Tommy] both,” Anderson told the
magazine. “They’re just great guys. I have the best of all worlds.”

No, you’re a whore! Well maybe not a whore, but a skank for sure. I think the thing that gets me so mad about this is that nobody’s going to say word one about how slutty that is just because she is who she is. Let’s be honest here, if your sister or the girl across the street from you busted out remarks like that she’d be the town tramp and we all know it. I’m sick of celebrities getting a free pass just because they made a movie or something. Give me a break!

Ok, I’m gonna go before I bust a blood vessel or something. Comment at will.

What’s Your Life Rated?

Found this quiz while I was surfing around. I always thought this stuff was kind of neat so I’m sharing it cause well, I can, damnit! It’s a test to figure out what your life would be rated on the MPAA movie ratings scale. Somehow I ended up with NC-17, that’s X for people who aren’t familiar with what that means.

If you do the test, leave your score in the comments section at the end of this post. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of people we’ve got reading this site on a daily basis. You can rate your life
here.