Thursday, May 18, 2006

Goin' up north, eh.

Well, I'm off with.... well, most of the people who could possibly be reading this... to a cottage for the long weekend.

While I'm gone, anyone who cares to should check out eNDProhibition

When I get back, I'm planning to read this free e-book I just discovered: "The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer"

Oh, and happy 30th Birthday, Andria!

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Blogless!

Well, I managed to go the entire month of April without updating this thing... As sometimes happens, I get caught up in the act of actually living, instead of just doin' stuff online. Where to start? Well, I've been DJing regularly. The high points include doing a Zissou Society sunday at the Queenshead, where I had the biggest Sunday turnout thus far (although it hasn't really carried over into the past couple of weeks), and I did a Saturday dj gig with Rich (aka DJ Rankin' Whitey) which was fun. Rich got a bunch of prizes donated, and did a raffle for the women's shelter down the street which managed to raise $350.

This past week, I went to see a movie as part of Hot Docs, called Oilcrash. Basically, the movie's all about how oil is getting scarcer fast, and will inevitably run out sooner rather than later... and although we take it for granted, much of western society is built on oil, and without it our way of life will have to change drastically. The movie was also really good at making the connection between war, opressive regimes throughout the world, and the oil industry... which will only intensify as oil becomes scarcer. A fitting movie to watch the day after Harper's budget that took money away from environmental initiatives to give to the military. Also interesting... before the movie started, they showed an ad for an SUV, the Cadillac Escalade. Whoops!

Speaking of corporate weirdness, I had a bit of a surreal experience on Thursday... Rich called me at the last minute and asked if I wanted to go to this party that Vice magazine was doing, because he was on the guest list. I wasn't super into it, but I felt like grabbing a couple of drinks, so I figured I'd go check it out. There were djs and some bands, and most of all... free booze. It was sponsored by Adidas, so when this one band goes on, Rich points out that they're all wearing Adidas shoes. We heckled them; as they deserved (even though they didn't sound too horrible). In the front room, they had a few (like, 4 or 5) display shelves with shoes lit up behind plexiglass. So, even though you sort of felt like part of the display if you stood too close to them, it was mostly fairly subtle. So, after moving away from the band/advertisement in the back room, Rich mentions that he wants to cause some anarchy. At this point, I should point out that I'm not at all drunk (I'd only had 3 or 4 drinks), but I do have an idea. I check out the plexiglass fronts on the shelves, trying to figure out how well they're attached... not very well, but enough to dissuade me from trying to take them off to liberate the shoes inside. But, I do realize that the shelves are not attached to the wall at all... so I decide to flip one around so that it faces the wall. Immediately upon doing so, this girl comes up to me and asks me to turn it around back to how it was. At this point, Rich and I were planning to leave anyway, and I have 2 options: either do what she says and become an active participant in Adidas marketing, or do what I want and leave my improvement to their decorating scheme as it is. I chose the second option. And walked out of the party... with the girl ensuring I don't walk in any direction other than the door, and her telling the bouncer not to let "this guy back in". Wow, what a badass I am... turning around shelves like that. In retrospect, I wish I'd caused more trouble, but I didn't want to maliciously give the people working there a hard time. I even introduced myself to the girl who kicked me out (whose name I forget) and the bouncer walked me out the front door (Adam). I think I made a comment on the way out about how tight corporate control is. Ironically, right before this happened, I let this girl into the washroom ahead of me who was an Adidas rep who helped throw the party. So much for being a good person.

Anyway, I need to eat, and then run to DJ night. See ya there. Until next time, check out a couple of new links I've put up here. Also, here's another pic of Paul's baby, William. I think it's the funniest thing ever: