Watching a basketball game last night I unexpectedly noticed a familiar face in a Gatorade commercial. See if you can get it:
For those of you who have been paying attention the second to last athlete in that lineup was Bradd Arseneau, who was the only remaining team member from the horrific crash that saw the loss of 7 of his Bathurst High Phantom teammates last year. I found the clip on YouTube and there was even a little interview with Bradd. Here is that interview:
Some will say that it is somewhat unethical to be profiting off this tragedy in some way but those people should at least remember how great of an experience it would have been for Bradd and that it was a very nice gesture.
Pace out.
PS - The Post's title is, of course, a Hip song that contains the line "Black out to Phantom Power". See what I did there?
We knew that some major shake-ups in the North American auto industry were inevitable but it still came as a sad surprise to learn that GM will be shelving the Pontiac brand as part of its restructuring. Pontiac is a historical brand in the GM's stable and along with the mercy-killing of Oldsmobile a couple of years ago continues the extinction of GMs former horses.
As a former employee of GM (3 summers!) I am sad to see it come to this. They have been the world's biggest carmaker (or close) forever and theirmodels fit into songs(watch this!) better than a Tercel or Camry could. Quality does trump emotional attachment though and therein lies the success of a Toyata or Honda. I sincerely hope that the reorganization of the company results in a new corporate culture that produces exciting, forward thinking, quality products. I'd buy one...
I tried to find one of the old "You Got It Pontiac!" ads on youtube with no luck. Instead, here is another American legend giving his version:
On Saturday, in honour of Normy's study break, we decided to try to give him an actual break and rented a camp on the Miramichi. Because I knew of such a great spot that could be had for a ridiculously low price we ended up back at the Betts-Kelly Lodge. This trip was a little bit different than my last trip up there in February. We we blessed with above seasonal temps on the weekend so when we (the early birds: the married boys who weren't out the night before and the idiot that agreed to name his house the meeting spot (me))arrived at the camp at 1pm the sun was high in the sky and beaming on the South-facing deck. I spent the next four hours there, shirtless and loving it, wondering if there was any place I would rather be right now. The answer was no.
The rest of the crew rolled in around 4 and tried in vain to fish without a boat in a spot that you need a boat to fish. That experiment lasted about 20 minutes. At that point we switched to washers. Darkness cut the tourney short and we were forced inside to the poker table. All the while the barbecue was going on the deck and we were constantly packing away steak, sausage, burgers, etc. The day's diet actually reminded me of this commercial:
After all the consumption of a day on the deck by the river I actually had a hard time breathing when I laid down for bed. That can't be a good sign. And thus ended that experiment.
I'm glad we got to get back to that beautiful camp and got to spend some nice down time with the boys. It doesn't get much better...
Since I missed Flashback Friday I give you this belated gem:
To serve us with a reminder that she is still in charge around here Mother Earth is dishing out some wicked weather in Freddy today and the St. John River is threatening to breach its banks again.
It's hard to keep track of some of these Hallmark Environmental Holidays; I thought we celebrated Earth Day last month, but it turns out that was just Earth Hour. Whatever the case I think we can all agree that we should be a little (actually a lot) nicer to our mother.
In other news, I am going to see this guy wrote a good song about the face of the earth:
When I read the headline on Deadspin "Boston Marathon Winners Shockingly Not From Boston" I rightly assumed they meant that Kenyans or Ethiopians had won the race. When I read a little deeper though I also found out that a Canadian had won the single-leg amputee classs and set a world record doing it.
Rick Ball, a Toronto Transit worker from Orillia (where 77% of people said yes to Anacin!), ran on a sweet prosthetic spring leg and beat his personal best by 8 minutes becoming the most recent athlete with a disability to make me feel inadequate. Congratulations!
I saw a note on my Facebook page about today being International Cloud Appreciation Day. I wasn't able to confirm that anywhere but I did find the Cloud Appreciation Society. When I heard it was Cloud Appreciation Day I figured it was a play on words for the other appreciation day that falls on April 20th.
Not a cloud in the sky today but I hope everyone out on the West Coast got to fully appreciate those clouds today.
Wednesday night the NHL playoffs started and men around the country began their two month hockey hibernation. Between now and the first week of June decisions around where to be on any given night will revolve around who has the bigger tv. Sorry North.
The Habs Drive for 25 started last night in Boston. They came out on the losing end but were pesky (and maybe even a little cheap) right to the end. The Bruins are probably the better, deeper team. But that hasn't stopped them from getting upset in the past. Regardless of how long this goes it will be a good series.
Out west both the Canucks might be able to ride Luongo deep into the playoffs but getting past both San Jose and Detroit will be tough. Calgary needs to get past Chicago first and last night was not a good start. Bottom line: it doesn't look good that we will be seeing the Cup back in Canada where it belongs. Hope springs eternal though.
It's probably overstated but playoff hockey is actually much better to watch than the regular season. Stuff that players wouldn't get away with in games 1 through 82 is brushed away with the "that's just playoff hockey" line. And it's true, what wins games in the regular season is secondary to what wins games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs: Heart and Soul.
This whole post was basically an excuse to post that song - 'Hot Lovin' Every Night!'.
I remember skimming this a couple of years ago when Vanilla Dong won. I forgot about it and was happy to go back and relive such hilarious (and real!) monikers like Doby Chrotchtangle, Assumption Bulltron, and Jerome Fruithandler. Frankly the whole damn list is hilarious. I urge you to check out this years competition.
Sadly, I do not see Rockwell Hardness anywhere. I guess its up to me to change my name.
The thought that kept popping into my mind after Neil Young finished rocking the shit out of Harbour Station the other night was that if that is what 63 looks like I am not as concerned about getting old as I was before the Saturday's show. He kicked it, for two solid hours.
As per the policy we missed the opener (and heard zero reviews good or bad) and arrived about 15 minutes before Neil hit the stage. We waited in line for a beer and hit the floor as he was starting his second song which just happened to be Hey Hey, My My. From there he went into my (current) favourite Neil Young song Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. I actually got worked up thinking that this song should be New Brunswick's theme song. As the quintessential have-not province (mostly in that only people from New Brunswick remember New Brunswick) this song is the ultimate back home song, mostly because of this line, the one that hit me - "Every time I think about back home, It's cool and breezy; I wish that I could be there right now, Just passing time.". Soon after he did Pocahontas and I completely forgot how badly I wanted to hear that song when the show was announced. He followed that up with Cortez the Killer and Cinammon Girl in the (2nd most) rockin' part of the show. BTW - The full setlist can be found here.
Highlights from there included Heart of Gold followed by Old Man (Craig's highlight). The most rockin' part of the show was the encore - Keep on Rockin' in the Free World. He played it out for about 10 minutes and faked the climax 3 times before finally bowing and leaving the stage. The message was clear; he's still rockin' so we best all follow suit.
It was the best stadium show I've seen in some time. Everything I could hope for; he played classics and he played the hell out of them.
This post is for Sister Sarah. I didn't get to speak to her (beyond a quick hello on messenger) yesterday and it was her birthday. She is travelling to the Island today for an Easter visit with Mom and Sam. I am envious mostly of the food I'm missing but also that they are spending time together without me. I had to bail because of the Neil Young show. Mom swore she understood and I swore I would be over for a visit before too long.
For Sarah's birthday I hope she checks in sometimes and sees this simple song that I'm dedicating to her:
Given that tomorrow is Good Friday and I won't likely be around to send you into the weekend in style, I give you this weeks Flashback song. This one is special because I hope to hear it on Saturday night in Saint John.
Neil Young has been in the Maritimes recently but I was either living out west or visiting out west (when he last came in November). I am super pumped to see this show. Neil is on a short list of performers that I need to see before they stop touring.
I don't consider myself an early adopter when it comes to any of the ever-changing social media that we are bombarded with. I usually leave it up to Craig and let him point me in the right direction. So, at Craig's suggestion I am now officially a twit. I have signed up for twitter that is. You can find me by searching for my username - @paceonearth.
I'm not really sure how this is going to benefit me but in the grand scheme of this this is just another way to interact and keep connected. Philosophically, this will never replace real human interaction but if you look at it as another way to interact, which then leads to more real interaction, then it is undoubtebly a good thing. That's what I keep telling myself anyways.
To quickly recap the weekend that was I will tell you that I enjoyed a bottle of wine and good conversation at Hurricane Bardsley's Happy Hour on Friday evening and then went to the Burlesque show. That's right, a burlesque show. The same burlesque show that caused a bit of a stir when the proprietor of the venue hosting the event applied for a zoning ammendment to allow adult entertainment. While were both giddy and concerned at the prospect of the rugby club's neighbors opening a strip club (concerned for the juniors and the women's team losing members) it turned out the show was not stripping at all, just some local ladies playing 'showgirls' for charity. In fact this show was entitled Burleque for Breasts. I'll do alot for charity; having a drink and watching half-naked women therefore checks out. It was a good time and it was indeed for a good cause - breast cancer research. Well done ladies.
In related news over the weekend I read this great story about our great Canadian symbol; the beaver. It seems these two Cape Breton MPs led this lost icon back to the safety of the Ottawa River. My guess is that the beav was just looking for some Taco Bell.
Sadly I didn't get to take part in any kick ass April Fool's Day pranks this year. I tried to lie and tell the competitors in my annual Roll up the Rim contest that I won 3 times over last weekend but they called me on it immediately.
In that case I guess we better look to the web to see who out there did manage to Fool the masses on what should be a National Holiday...or at least a better Hallmark holiday - especially for nerds.
My grandparents trip to Jamaica last week took an interesting turn on Saturday when Rae, now dubbed Ganja Granny, was caught with 3.5 kilos of Jamaican pot jammed in her suitcase. Ever quick-witted, she claimed it was herbs when questioned by security. Herbs indeed.
Here is the quote from the AP story - "Montego Bay Police Constable Ulet Lewis-Green on Wednesday identified the woman as Rae Dawkins of Prince Edward Island. Authorities did not disclose a hometown for the Canadian dubbed "ganja granny" by local media."
Oooh-yeah:
Pace out.
PS - April Fools! At least partially...the Ganja Granny does exist, we just aren't related. Here is the real story. Sorry Granny!
