I found this great tune (and video) on a friend's facebook profile this week:
This will now serve as my Olympic dream trip to Vancouver's theme song. It will also serve as the introduction to my plan for this site for the coming month. Classified has prompted me to celebrate Canadian content for the month as a nod to our athletes and their quest for the podium. It's also a nod to Canadian artists as it is looking more and more as though I won't be seeing too many athletes perform but do plan on seeing lots of artists perform.
Last day of our quarter; last day of our fiscal year. In other words, pressure sales time Peter. We are in-line for a good finish and, thus, the potential for the ever-so-rare work-sanctioned party and a day off or two. If you are in need of some online training please don't hesitate to call; everything must go!
The Olympics are just 2.5 weeks away. I've been gearing up for a few months and finalizing my plans to be there for the historic event. I am excited that I will get to take in the atmosphere, the festivities, and, if I somehow get lucky, an event where a Canadian wins. But from the get-go a big focus of my Olympic dream has been the thought of being somewhere close when the Canadian Hockey team goes for gold. It's a tall order, Team Russia and Team Sweden are equally strong and, in a one and done playoff format, a hot goalie or a bad bounce can be the difference. There will also be the heavy weight of expectation on the Canadian's shoulders. I was glad to see this commercial featuring Jarome Iginla that indicates concepts like fate or hope don't win games. Hard work does.
I believe you Jarome. Dion, sorry about your luck.
You can see the NB Legislature in the above picture from last weekend and it looks like such a quiet place.
Now it's pretty rare that Canada gets mentioned on gossip/celebrity stalker site TMZ.com. Even rarer for New Brunswick and a New Brunswick politician at that. Here's the footage:
I got nothin, except to say that TJ delivered a better version than Brett Favre.
I liked Larry Platt's hit from American Idol but, for the kids, I like Young MC's message better:
I saw this come across the news wire earlier today. Fisheries Minister Gail Shea was pied in the face by an activist looking to get some attention. She has gotten that and I guess I'm giving her some more. I don't have much of a problem with this; we've got some history in Canada of people making political statements with pies. What I do have a problem with is that this woman was American and a member of PETA. Americans don't have a say in Canadian politics just as we don't get to decide who the American government detains and tortures. And PETA really grinds my gears, mainly due to stunts like this. They are seeking the publicity they are getting but, I think, fail to realize that this shit comes with a backlash and increases support for the seal hunt. Oh, and she was charged with assault. I can only imagine what a Canadian would have been charged with if they pied Hillary Clinton. Rant over.
North asked me for a hand last week putting together a music curriculum for his English Second Language students. He needed songs with a Canadian theme. Being a music nazi, he wanted to put his own stamp on it, but didn't mind some input. I suggested some of the obvious choices like Canadian Railroad Trilogy and Fifty-Mission Cap . Canadian Railroad Trilogy because it is, in my mind, the quintessential Canadian History song and Fifty-Mission Cap because it makes fun of the Leafs. North thought CRT was too long and that FMC wasn't as good as Fireworks for a Hip song. I'm still not sure he was right but it's his class. I also suggested Alberta Bound and, for a similar theme, Big Sugar's All Hell for a Basement, about Newfoundlanders heading west.
North was in Taiwan when the song came out so I looked it up for him. I also found some background on the song and some very good Canadian trivia. It turns out the phrase 'All hell for a basement' was a quote from none other than Rudyard Kipling who said it in reference to Medicine Hat, Alberta and the gas reserves beneath the region. The full quote: "This part of the country seems to have all hell for a basement, and the only trap door appears to be in Medicine Hat. And don’t you ever think of changing the name of your town. It’s all your own and the only hat of its kind on earth." That, right there, is some good trivia. Not to mention a great song.
I stumbled across a very interesting show on PBS's Independant Lens the other night. It was a documentary called Copyright Criminals about the industry dispute over sampling another artists' work. Here is the trailer:
The doc itself was very good. Arguments are solid on both sides really. There is something to be said for creative license and making something new out of something old. On the other hand intelectual property is the law and, on using someone else's original recording as a tool, George Clinton said it best - "You pay for a guitar, you pay for a piano, you pay for anything else you make a song with." Truthfully though, for me the show was truly compelling for the music and the process that went into some of that early stuff; De La Soul, Public Enemy, Biz Markie, etc. And it also reminded me of some stuff I forgot existed, like this great song...:
So it was one year ago that Barack Obama was inaugurated as the new President of the United States. There was a lot of hoopla about hope and change and I bought into it. I am not one to pass judgement quickly but I think it is safe to say that while hope remains, change remains elusive. One party down there plays hardball and does what they want. The other plays softball and doesn't do anything. Catch-22.
It's kind of sad that a undeniably smart, charismatic, seemingly idealistic and visionary man cannot effect change to his hopeful populace, it's a sad state of affairs. I need a pick me up and this made me giggle for far too long: Oh Snoop, you make everything better.
Oh how I love a good road trip! Our Sugarloaf/Little Feat expedition was a great success.
The weather was good for the drive down, which was key because a good portion of that drive was done on the backroads of Maine. We spent Friday night in Greenville with friends and travelled the rest of the way to Carabassett Valley Saturday morning. We arrived to find out that we couldn't get into our condo until 4pm which made my ski-or-not-to-ski decision for me. I headed to the rental shop and geared up. As I carried my skis on my shoulder out the front door of the lodge the mountain loomed above me. Clouds cloaked the peak and it looked foreboding to say the least. But then a funny thing happened when I got off the quad; I remembered I could ski. It wasn't pretty but I felt comfortable and, most importantly, I was not a danger to myself or those around me. I stuck to the blue squares as I got my feet and figured 3 or 4 runs was worth a frothy reward. So we went to the mid-mountain bar, Bullwinkle's for lunch.
I enjoyed a Dave's Pale Ale and the best bowl of french onion soup I've had in about a year. It was packed with flavour (or flavor since I was in the USA) and had the perfect ratio of cheese to bread and broth to onion. Magnifique! The beer was good too. So, refreshed, we went back to the slopes for a couple more hours before checking into the condo.
It was a nice setup, 4 beds on two floors, a big living room with kitchen and a bathroom on each floor. It also had two balconies with views of the hill.Once we got home there was a race, first to open a beer, then to hit the hot tub. Sadly, the hot tub wasn't private as I had thought, but public and packed. So I took an extra long hot shower instead, and prepped for the show.
The show itself was great. I knew Little Feat because they played Harvest a few years ago and were one of my stepmom Diane's favourite bands. The were playing as part of the Bud Light Concert Series at Sugarloaf. The venue was great, the crowd was great, and the band played long and hard. They did play Willin', which was cool, and they did end with Dixie Chicken but I should note that it lasted 20+ minutes, went into two other songs, and included a Grateful Dead tease that almost caused North to faint. They ended with a rockin' version of Let it Roll. Good show.
The package for the lift ticket, condo and concert was cheap. The show was great, the condo was good, and the fact that I now know I can ski again is priceless. So, again, road trips are always a good thing. I might have to go on another. Grace Potter at Sugurloaf in March. Or maybe that thing in Vancouver next month...
As I write this I am getting a little concerned for my personal well-being and North is suffering from Magic Mountain Syndrome. We are going to Sugarloaf USA for the weekend for some skiing and apres-ski with Little Feat.
Magic Mountain Syndrome is the hyper excitement condition that skews reason and tries patience. North has always got it the worst, so we named it after his shaking leg before going to Magic Mountain. I do love a road trip as much as the next guy but I don't have MMS quite like North because I am little apprehensive about hitting the slopes again after a 15 year hiatus. Amazingly, the last time I skied was on a UNB trip to Amqui. They tell me skis have changed since then; they tell me that these new skis pretty much ski for you. I'm hopeful but not optimistic.
No matter what happens on the hill the off-mountain activities should ensure a good time. The reason for going this weekend is that Little Feat is playing tomorrow night. And if that isn't enough then the hot tub should do it.
A great movie once taught me that the dirtiest thing ever said on television is: "Ward, I think you were a little hard on the Beaver last night." That little gem still makes me giggle. I have never bothered to search hard enough to see if it was actually said, but it's pretty safe to say that it certainly could have been said, right?
Now, in much the same way Ward Cleaver's innocence was filthied by our dirty modern minds, Canada's second-oldest magazine has found itself forced to change its name because it is being unintentionally caught by porn filters. That is limiting its new readership so the name change is a business decision, by no means a moral one. Said the editor "Market research showed us that younger Canadians and women were very very unlikely to ever buy a magazine called The Beaver no matter what it's about." Well that and the fact that it's about history. Hopefully the new name, Canada's History, works and it continues into its second century.
I took the photo above at Carleton Park the other day. My plan is to take a photo of the river at the park once a week for the year. I hope to be able to put 50 odd photos together in a slideshow at the end of 2010 to show the full year where I live. Atlantic Canada definitely enjoys four distinct seasons and I'm hoping this photo record shows the good (and probably bad) in all of them.
Hopefully I can keep it up. This time next year I'd like to have something to highlight Devon.
This is some fine, fine Friday fluff for your review. The creator of Sleep Talkin' Man has been documenting her husband's sleep babble for the past few months. It is some of the funniest stuff I have read in a long time. Actually had me giggling, then again true babble does that to me. Some of the higlights:
"I haven't put on weight. Your eyes are fat." "Well that's just great. Peanut butter in my crack. Goddamnit." "Fluffy bunny + twitchy nose + big ears = great stew." "Oh, we're going to be late for the pogo ballet, stop it!"
It's all gold, and all a messed up mirror of one man's mind. I shouldn't be surprised that I'm laughing at it though; it's exactly how Geoff Nicki talks when he's awake and that always made me laugh too.
I won! I am the Pope of Chili Town! In your face space coyote!
I apologize for not relaying the news earlier but I feared that I might be completely unbearable with my gloating. By now I should be only mildly unbearable. Before I do the world a favour and release the recipe I will tell you that this year's Snow Bowl was one of the best ever. It was a crisp day but the two most important factors were prime; the snow was soft and deep and the wind was next to nothing. There were probably 25 or so players and, as is the case every year(and as the picture shows), we all won.
But I won the Chili Cookoff and here is the recipe for my winning entry that I dubbed Winter Warmer.
Ingredients: 1 pound stewing beef 1 pound ground beef 1/2 pound hot italian sausage 2 yellow onions 1 red onion 1 red pepper 1 green 2 28oz cans of tomatoes (diced and stewed in this case) 1 14oz can of kidney beans, 1 of black beans, and 1 of chick peas 1 can Campbell's tomato soup 1 small can of kernal corn hot chili sauce - just a little plenty of chili powder - 4 or 5 tbsp some cumin - 1 tbsp some brown suger - couple of tbsp salt and pepper 1 dark beer - Picaroon's Best Bitter in this case 2 shots of espresso
I slowed cooked the beef with an onion and about half the Best Bitter mixed with chili powder and some chili sauce. I let that go for about 8 hours while I was at work. That was really the secret to the recipe. When I got home I...
In a large pot over medium high heat, brown and crumble the ground beef and sausage. Add the onions and some chlii powder as the meat sizzles and continue stirring, adding the diced peppers as well. Stir until the meat is done. Add the slow-cooked beef. Turn the stove down to medium. Add the (drained) tomatoes and tomato soup. More chili powder, more chili sauce, the cumin, salt and pepper, brown sugar and stir it up. As it starts to bubble add the drained beans and chick peas. Add the espresso (regular coffee will do, the stronger the better) and any left over chili powder in the house. Stir and let it get to a slow boil. Stir and turn the stove down to medium-low. Let it roll for a couple of hours stirring occasionally keeping it simmering. As it thickens test it in a big bowl. If it's too hot used the leftover beer. It's ready at this point but it gets better over the next 3 to 4 days. Enjoy. I'm getting the recipe framed and put up at the clubhouse. It's a new tradition ;)
That's the gospel according to the Pope of Chili Town.
I touched on all the looking back yesterday so today is a day for looking forward. Although I should quickly say that I had a very good New Year's Eve, complete with a suit, a hot date, champagne at midnight and some of the whitest dance moves of this millenium. But I digress.
I am gearing up to head over to the rugby club for the annual Snow Bowl and Chili Cookoff. I hope to continue my streak of hitting the first drop goal of the year at the club and, more importantly, I hope to break my streak of losing the Chili Cookoff. I'm confident in my creation. It's some of my best work.
I have been pretty piss poor at keeping new year's resolutions so, this year, I have but one resolution: sort it out. It's an all-encompassing motto, from work to weekends, home to hardware, family to fitness. It starts with the chili.
