May The Cubes Be With You
The sheer variety of characters on here is awesome, both easily recognizable as well as obscure, and the selection is right up my alley. They have all sorts of cartoon characters, and real people as well, even the President-Elect, Mr. Obama.
I had to download and try one of these right away, and I chose McGuirk from Home Movies, cos he rocks. I didn't use card stock as they recommended (because I was out), but it works pretty well with just regular copier paper as well. This was a "two-scissor" difficulty level, and I'm not sure how much more difficult the three- or four-scissor levels are. The arms in particular were pretty hard to put together because they are kind of small. If you have sausage fingers, then you should prbably not make the attempt at... cubee-ing?... yeah.
Here's my finished Coach McGuirk.
I had the idea that these would make awesome Christmas ornaments.... I'm gonna suggest it to the girlfriend and see what she says. It could be a cubee Christmas for all of us :)
Check out Cubeecraft now, and get your cube-on!
(Gee, could I make any more cube jokes? Probably...)
I'm Your Mama, I'm Your Daddy, I'm That Crazy In The Alley
eyes feel like they are gonna bug out of my head from looking at these monitors...
Suddenly I'm taken over by a gangsta. It's my only 'excape'.
The Iceman's gonna beat ya down... with his knuckles.
...
Clearly... losing my mind.
A Matter Of Degrees
They way I feel sometimes
The warm glow of the streetlights at 4 am
Clean pillowcases
The smell after an April thunder storm
That way you look at me
A cool breeze in summertime
Pineapple rings
Having a pint in a crowded pub
Eighty-eight black and white
Knowing you're thinking of me
A day to ourselves
My favourite song on the radio
The pictures on my wall
Having a secret to share with you
Bending down to lift her up
This place in my head where I keep thoughts of you
Laughing together
These things I can't do without
It's not an absolute
It's a matter of degrees.
It's Going To Be A Rough Christmas.
Freedom 35 says:
why are you sad?
drew says:
i miss you
merr.....
Blast From The Past
The Internet Savvy Of A Five-Year-Old
It's so amazing to see how creative she is. I can't wait to see what she grows up to be. Generally, she is advanced. She's already learning the lingo of MSNing. Check this out.
drew says:
grr GO TO BED
Freedom 35 says:
i can't I am at work. you go to bed.
drew says:
LOL
drew says:
NO
Freedom 35 says:
okay!
drew says:
POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP
So it seems her mom has taught her the rudimentaries of internet anagrams, but hasn't managed to convince her to stop with the toilet humour. That's all fine with me.
Hocus Pocus Flippity-Flam
One of the great things about some drunk people is that they are impressed very easily. I'm sitting in Ray's Boathouse one Friday and playing with my can of Strongbow. I managed to find the sweet spot where I was able to balance the can on the bottom rim with just enough cider inside of it to weigh it downward and not allow it to tip over.
This is how I amuse myself.
The Sincerest Form Of Flattery... and Boredom
Trying to finish off this record by the fall proved to be a difficult task indeed. After a massive creative spurt during the spring, during which I created four tracks for the CD, my muse unceremoniously went on vacation to Maui and I haven't really seen her since. It's been frustrating to say the least. But soldier on, I must, and I've been trying to finish off tracks I've started, start tracks I've heard in my head and generally try to keep my musical ear busy so I don't lose my chops.
Something I end up doing just by way of this has been creating remixes or cover versions of other people's tracks. It's a great way for a producer or engineer, first of all, to see how 'the greats' were able to put the whole thing together and see the song from the inside out, so to speak.
This summer and fall, I've done an unprecedented amount of cover versions. Rather than doing these songs under the PEM moniker, I decided to rise EtherReal from the ashes and create these songs under the anagrammatic Earl Three. It all started most recently when I was struggling with a fifth track from Stop/Time, and I gave up on what I was working on, and started messing around with an acappella version of Michael Jackson's "They Don't Care About Us" that I found on P2P. I hadn't been really impressed with any of the remixes that had come out for this in 1995, so in the words of Prince, "Whenever I want to hear some new music, I just go and make some."
Michael Jackson - They Don't Care About Us (Earl 3's Earban Remix)
Actually, I first realized how fun and rewarding this kind of thing was for me at Mopalooza a few years back when he asked me to come up with some backing tracks for the jam band. He wanted 80's tunes, so he basically knew where to come for that. We came up with a list of 5 songs, and I recreated them as best I could using software synths and in some cases samples of the original instruments from the tracks themselves. Mo was ecstatic.
Kon - Kan - I Beg Your Pardon (Earl 3's Club Instrumental w/Reprise)
Yazoo - Don't Go (Earl 3's Instrumental)
New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle (Earl 3's Respect-A-Shep Instrumental)
It didn't stop there. At the right in the PEM music widget, you can see the other Earl 3 tracks that have surfaced since that time. I've progressed slightly in that I'm not merely recreating the musical bits, now I'm actually singing the vocals myself, now that I'm a little more content with hearing the sound of my own voice. Although, there is one other one that I would like to add in this post, a Pet Shop Boys cover, a straight copy from Disco 3, no remixing involved, other than adding my own vocals.
Earl Three - Here (PSB-Style Remix)
As fun as this is, here's hoping that a new record will emerge early next year.
The Obaminator has OBAMINATED.
I can't remember the last time I was not filled with a feeling of dread after the closing of an American election. And being a Canadian, that's saying something.
I had been predicting that a republican president would again be elected into the White House, even to the point of aggrivating my mother, a devout Obama supporter, but I'm absolutely delighted to be wrong. Whatever the motivation, the Americans have done what I feel is the right thing today, and really impressed me.
Obama's speech was marvellous, and moved me, quite uncharacteristically, to tears. I even have to hand it to McCain, his concession was also quite eloquent and honest in light of some of his actions and words during the campaign.
There are many nay-sayers even now in the light of this victory. All I can say is that I hope that Obama will be the kind of president that everyone expects he can be, but he is right -- it's not his job alone to provide change, it's everyone's job.
A big cause of concern in the next four years for America is that people will interpret a lack of rapid change to be a fault of one man alone, rather than the natural time needed when trying to rebuild a nation from the state the elephants left it in. In addition to that, he will be under so much scrutiny, the weight of which would break Atlas' back, and I hope he can prevail. I think we all need him too.
It's not often I can say I've witnessed a piece of history, but this is a big one for me. I am left sleepless with the gravity of it.
Congrats from Canada, America. You've gone a long way to restoring my damaged feelings for you as a nation.
Halloween 2008
I haven't dressed up for Halloween in five years. Usually the reason for this is because I don't really give a shit. Halloween hasn't really been very fun for me since I stopped eating a lot of candy, so I'd say since I was about 22. In any case, every year all my friends (who seem to live love the crap out of the idea) plan elaborate parties and costumes, and I don't bother. Once in a while I will decide I don't wanna be the odd man out and try to come up with a last minute idea. I'll wrack my brain for about two hours then give up and just go out dressed in my civvies.This year, the idea was for Dave and I to dress up as Trailer Park Boys. He got me hooked on the show earlier this year, and it's been our program of choice for our now occasional but once regular drunken TV watching sessions on weekends. I didn't really think he'd actually go through with it, so I didn't bother scrambling around for a costume.
Then we all went to a preliminary Halloween party thrown by a friend, and he shows up wearing a Sunnyvale hockey jersey (BUBBLES 99) and these goofy glasses with huge black frames that make him look more like Harry Caray than Bubbles. But all the same he kinda showed me up that day and I silently vowed not to be outdone.
Originally Dave wanted to dress as Ricky, but I talked him out of it because he is so clearly Bubbles. His hairline and colour, the shape of his face, etcetera. I not so kindly told him that he didn't have enough hair to pass of Ricky. The joke of it was that neither one of us did, in actual fact. But on that day, we agreed that he would be Bubbles and I would be Ricky, and I set out on a three week mission to find gaudy shirts and track pants, and try to grow mutton chops and a goofy pompadour.
After about a week and a half of this, I realized I wasn't going to be any better of a better Ricky than Dave would have been. My facial hair simply doesn't grow in enough, and my body frame isn't convincing enough. Rob Wells used to play football and I'm just not built that way. So I more or less gave up on the idea. I assumed that Dave would too. But then the fateful Halloween party disproved that theory.
So, in typical Brian style, on Halloween afternoon at 4:30 I decide to throw together a Julian costume. I do this every year. Most years it doesn't pay off. But i thought, if I can just find the right clothes, and figure out a way to get my hair jet black, it just might work. So I head over to Value Village and Walmart.
• 1 black elastic knit t-shirt - $5.99
• 1 fake gold chain - $4.99
• 1 crappy costume jewelry ring - $3.99
• 1 box Loreal black hair dye - $13.99
• 1 pair dark sunglasses - $6.99
• 1 pkg. 'pirate' makeup crayons - $2.99
I fail to locate a chain bracelet or clip on earring to complete the look, but I have all the other items needed. Also, at Value Village I find the perfect Ricky shirt and I have to buy it because it's just so perfect, and I might wanna use it at some other point.
So I get all this crap home, and I realize I haven't really thought this through. I've spent all this money but I still don't know whether I can pull of Julian convincingly. JP Tremblay, let's face it, is a good looking guy; he's got those classic chiseled Roman facial features that I simply don't have, his skin is clean and unmarked, and he's got twice as much muscular bulk as I do, especially in the arms. So given that the hair dye i bought is semi-permanent (washes out in 28 days) I opt to test the makeup and the outfit first do see how good it looks, deciding that if it looks crap, I'll just bail on the idea and return the other stuff.
I don the black jeans that I already had, the t-shirt and unwrap the makeup. I start applying the devil's moustache and goat with the black makeup crayon, and I check out the mirror. It doesn't look too bad. I put on some of the bling and the shades. Even with my brown/gray mop it's starting to look enough like Julian that I'm almost convinced this is a good idea. The last touch: I grab a highball from the cupboard and check myself out in the full length mirror in my living room.
The whole look is a little awesome, even with the non-black hair. I'm decided -- it's on.
30 minutes later, my hair is jet black, and although it's not as long as Julian's it's not noticeable. After a couple of quick beers, I pack up all my stuff and head for Sandra's, where I will become Julian for the night.
Once there, the transformation doesn't take very long. I reapply the makeup (I washed it off before I took the bus downtown), and try to work on the hair. It's hard to recreate Julian's particular 'do, but then it's hard to do just about anything with my brillo hair, so I just try to make the hairline look accurate with some styling mud. put on the bling and shades and voila: instant Trailer Park.
While she's getting ready, I start practicing in the mirror. I've seen the whole series about six times now, so it doesn't take me long to get into character. Thanks to Sandra's generosity, she lends me a highball for the night, and I fill it with pop and ice, which I will then carry the seven blocks to the bar everyone is meeting at. I don't wear a jacket because it spoils the look and plus it's very mild out tonight. When we get halfway there, she asks me if I spiked the pop with actual liquor. I tell her that I didn't want to take any chances that a cop might stop me and ask me what's in the glass. The likelihood of this is slim, but I'm playing it safe, although that would have been a classic opportunity to really play Julian.
When I walk into the bar, I immediately hear, 'Hey, Julian's here!" and 'Where's Bubbles?" It's not widespread in it's recognizablity, but it's enough.
Dave shows up as Bubbles and does a bit of a double take. I'm in full on Julian mode now, standing in front of the table holding my drink. In his hsate to get over to me, he knocks over Jay's pint, because he can't see a fucking thing through his plastic coke-bottle lenses, but apart from that, he's clearly impressed by the success of my look. I'm satisfied that I've outdone him, and we get on to the business of drinking.
Over the course of the night, more people show up and many pics are taken. I tell Dave that he has to stay close to me for the Julian think to really work. For anyone who doesn't really know the show, they are more likely to recognize me as Julian if Bubbles is close by, but on my own I could just as easily be mistaken for George Michael.
A couple of Jay's band buddies show up as state troopers. This is just perfect. As I walk by them to refill my drink, the big one looks me up and down, blocking me and I stare him down. "I haven't done anything wrong," I say, a la Julian. "You've got no right to detain me. I'm gonna leave now."
Outside having a smoke, there is an old dude with a metal pot strapped to his head. He is a pot head. Clever. "Where's Ricky?" he asks drunkenly.
"Ricky's in jail," I respond in Julian-ese. Then he wants to know if we can score him some dope. I tell him we're not working tonight, we're just getting drunk and stoned with our friends.
"Besides, all we have is some shitty mall dope," Bubbles says.
I'm drinking rum and coke, obviously, but it's not really having any effect (at first). Whenever I order a drink, I have to repour it. I've tried to give the waitresses my personal highball, but they won't put my drink in it for some reason. They always bring their own glass. So I have to take the lime and stir stick out of it and repour it into my own glass. Another perfect opportunity for a classic TPB moment.
When we move the foursome to Ray's Boathouse, the effect of Julian and Bubbles is a lot more pronounced. Immediately upon entering, we were photographed by strangers, and our 'names' were shouted out. I clink everyone's glasses along the way. It was kinda like being a celebrity... but not really I suppose.
We don't win any costume contests, but then I wasn't really expecting to. What actually happened that I also didn't expect was that I actually had a lot of fun for once on Halloween.
