Practice makes adequate

Coronation Street

Magnetic Attraction

You know, sometimes things just work out.

Dream weaver

So they other day I was on the treadmill and this video came on. I had forgotten how super excellent this video is. I've been thinking hard about videos I've seen, and I'm not sure there's any better. Sure Thriller is pretty good and is probably the most groundbreaking and important to MTV and famous, but measured against all the videos ever made, I just don't know. The only other ones I can think of that might be better are "Fell in love with a girl" by the White Stripes, or maybe Run DMC vs. Jason Nevins' "It's Like That". But on the Latter I may be swayed by break-dancing. Frig break-dancing is awesome.

Pop quality

So I've been watching a lot of Smallville lately. More specifically seasons 9, 6, and 7 in that order. I noticed that season 9 is missing something. Don't get me wrong, I still love it and get a weird giddy pleasure when it gets super cheezy, but it's not the same bubble gum pop you find in the earlier seasons. In season nine, there were no featured WB bands showcased in convenient plot holes. And the product placement is not nearly so blatant (but definitely still there). I suppose I shouldn't complain, because I think there was a lot more story substance than usual. I also thought they did an excellent job of explaining Zod. You know I read somewhere that the best villains are the ones you can, if not sympathize with, at least understand where they came from or why they're like that. Like Lex, If only he hadn't lost his mother and brother under suspect conditions and been raised by a megalomaniacal evil genius, he'd probably be just fine smoking dope on the beach in Malibu with all the other trust fund babies. But Zod,.. yeah people would still kneel before Zod.

Steak

So I recently resumed going to the gym. Oh how my legs have complained these last couple of weeks, but already I feel so much awesomer (re. Tim Hortons). It's pretty good too cause they have TVs on the wall and on the treadmill. But... on the treadmill there is no closed captioning! And when I plug my headphones into it in full stride the swinging cord is too much. Oh the trials I endure... Oh.

I'm about to lose my worried mind

The results of the Led Zeppelin poll are in. Looks like the debate is over and everyone can just accept that III is the best. I can't believe it took me three years to get a Led Zeppelin tag.

Base hit

10,000 hits! Thanks, here's some fanart for your enjoyment.

Shall we trance?

Oh man, I had trouble with that hiss. If it's too painful to listen, don't.

Road to Avonlea

So when I came across this reading Gundam Sousei, how I laughed. Oh, how I laughed.

Left of Tengen

Well I just finished reading Hikaru No Go. A very excellent manga about the rough and tumble world of the professional go player. I have been practicing placing my stones like a professional with Junior Mints, but I'm not sure my hair is ridiculous enough to be a superstar at it. It used to be. Does that count?

Wedding Flower

CHECKIT! I saw this in downtown Toronto on the weekend whilst attending a very excellent wedding. I am inspired by one of my favourite sites Global Graphica. The artist looks to be one Bruni Nielsen, though if this is her website, I'm not sure street art is her usual thing.

Saved by the Bill

So, I recently finished reading Teklords by William Shatner, a man probably best known for his prior work: Tekwars. Though I didn't feel particularly enriched after having read this novel, I found it pretty entertaining, if not merely because Shatner continually amazed me with his ability to produce cliche after cliche in this sci-fi thriller.
Really, the most frustrating part is that its something like 150 years in the future and there's no cell phones, but they have Skype (see above). Oh well, you can't predict the future I guess, except that he published this book in 1991. I'm pretty sure Zach Morris had a cell phone.

Memories of a garage band

Check it. Weezer is on auto tune the news.

Herman -o Brother

Oh snap. I realized I never posted the results of the Narcissus and Goldmund poll. Just like Narcissus, he brought a holy beat down on Goldmund, but was cool about it. Three to nil. Amazingly Narcissus won. What does that say about my readers. All three of them. Anywhap, good book. I recommend it for a midlife crisis.

The hells are alive with the sound of manga

So, as I read page after page of manga, I usually have my media player on shuffle playing through my whole library. Occasionally a song plays that suits the page I'm reading to a T. Then I'm like, wouldn't it be awesome if the music always suited the page. I guess I've got to watch movies. Anyways I guess it's nice to know that odds are, if I keep reading manga and keep listening to music, sooner or later that one page is gonna be perfect.

Community Collage

Remember in 1997 when everyone made collages? Oh yeah.

Check out this collage I made when I was 17. ha... poop.

Rob reviews books he accidentally took a picture of

From Right to left,

101 Amazing card tricks: Amazing. Though I lack the dexterity due to not practicing at all.

The g.i. diet: Have not read, but sounds delicious.

Scott Pilgrim 4: The art totally changed in this one. Scott cuts a woman in half and there's some cool swords. Awesome.

Scott Pilgrim 3: I KNEW VEGANS HAD SUPERPOWERS! Though the DBZ rips are good.

Scott Pilgrim 2: This book is excellent becaus they go to the library. Casa Loma would also be an awesome level on THPS.

Scott Pilgrim 1: Bollywood kicks.

Scott Pilgrim 5: Scott fights a robot. Something else happened. OK.

Scott Pilgrim 6: I think this one is actually an ad for Bryan Lee O'Malley's line of clothing. Swords!

L'Etranger: I read the translation. True existentialists be warned, this world will ruin you by way of social contract. But no use crying about it. Also some pretty excellent stuff when his mind breaks.

Le Livre De Mon Ami: Did not read.

Canadian Short Stories: Did not read these ones.

The Ionian Mission: This one has lots of seagoing in it, and some good naval action. Mowatt was still alive too.

Evolution and Christian Faith: This book argues that Christian faith and the theory of evolution are not mutually exclusive beliefs. I guess I agree with the basic message of the book, but the book was painful to read. I think the author was trying too hard to be conciliatory and constantly dampened her arguments.

The Economics of Education: I only read a couple of pages of this one. Dry. Maybe I'll try again someday.

American Psycho: I only saw the movie. Why do you think I'm scared of Neo-Cons. Man Batman is crazy.

Oresteia: So I think I read this back in university, but I can't really remember what goes on. Like every other greek play it either blew my mind or made me want to stab myself.

The Stagnant Society: Did not read.

Tit-Coq: Did not read.

Candide: Did not read.

The Lives of Girls and Women: Did not read.

Above Ground: Did not read.

Man that was more books than I thought when it first occurred to me to do this. Luckily I haven't read most of them.

Motor ration

Dig it. I made the rear wiper work again. I thought it might be clever or artsy to photograph my samsnug photo of the motor repair, but really it's laziness. It is a chore to get pictures off that phone. Let me tell you. Let me.

Positive Confirmation

The final study hard installment. One more day, one more exam, one man. Wild man, wild.

Sound of silence

Hello darkness my old friend, I've come to ROCK! I guess you can tell which one I voted for. The results aren't so surprising though. I like all the options, and I suppose acoustic has the most mass appeal. Silence isn't bad, but I'm not sure I would pick it over the other two. One can only take so much silence. My car for example has no radio and occasionally I forget to bring along some other means of listening to music, and basically I go nuts, or I sing, which is almost as bad because I don't know more than one line of any song off by heart.
In the lane the snow is glistening.

Golf

Well, I usually try not to be superstitious, but sometimes it's hard. Actually, I guess that's not really true. It can be soft too... Ahh. I digress.
I quite regularly knock on wood and if the salt is spilled, it is also thrown. Those two are ok though, cause I think they have been scientifically proven to be superstitions.
Anyways, just so lately I was bragging about the excellent battery life on my mp3 player. Kiss o' death. This last charge was not so excellent as usual, but maybe the last charge was not complete, or I left it on. For some reason I feel that as soon as I utter some braggart statement I will be contradicted. I guess I should just stop saying anything. Or should I?... I am almost positive the leafs will not win the Stanley Cup next year.

Bike talk with Rob

I just had an idea!!

Nevermind it's already been had.

But there has been some crazy nice weather lately and my bikes to and from school have been very excellent, and quite fast. I almost broke out shiny bike for the first time this season in order to go even faster. I'm just not convinced winter is actually over. You should see the havoc the salt and snow wreaked on the red raleigh.

Smack run

Well, I ran the Peterborough-Y-Half again yesterday. Results here. I killed my previous times from 2009 and 2008. Also, Peter Bonk musta seen me training, because he didn't even show up.

Study shards

Ahh, midterms. My favourite time of year. I've but one more to go. It is Auditing.
So, you can tell why I'm procrastinating.

Tomato soup

Well, the results of the Warhol v. Renoir poll are in. I guess Renoir is better. I'd be lying if I said my favourite past-time was comparing artists from different genres.

Be mine

Happy Valentine's Day!

Flee

Well, last night I watched the opening ceremonies of the winter olympics in Vancouver. It was pretty crazy. I think I lack a proper appreciation for interpretive dance. My favourite part was when the Governor General declared the games on and then KD Lang immediately sang Leonard Cohen's Hallelujia. Because the VanOC and IOC guys finished their speeches? Bam.
Also, I'm not sure turning and running is the best thing to do if confronted with a bear.

Grey matter

So I was on a computer at school and someone had taped a little message to the monitor, I suppose as a thought provoking gesture. It seems to have worked because it has made me think about some stuff. But really I think about stuff all the time, but maybe not the stuff they want me to think about with their little message.
Anyways, the message said:

Avoid holding on to ideas just because you are used to them.

At first I was like, “yeah, I guess that makes sense,” being a dude who not so humbly thinks he’s pretty tolerant and open minded, or at least understanding. Then I got thinking about how being like that means I’m never really sure about anything. It’s the truth that the more I learn the less I know, or maybe the less I care. Or it might be the truth. See. Long ago was I tired of people being sure they’re right about anything. I sometimes begin to wonder if they are right merely by the fact that I never believe I’m right. But then I think that, I may not know anything for sure, but I might be able to tell what’s worthwhile, and roll with that.

Nerdtronic

Yeah, I'm pretty great.

Milk it

So I read about this in the star. Some of the comments are worth reading.

Forget it

Today I locked my keys in my room, and couldn't get back in until my roommate came home. So I did the following things. I Had lunch, played video games, did the dishes, watched Seinfeld, went for a bike ride (I fell twice, it was fun), and watched an episode of the office. Then my roommate came home.

Silver Fury

So normally when i'm driving my Hyundai Accent, I like to go fast. Well, maybe only as fast as I can go without creating too many legal issues. Really the car isn't all that fast to begin with so that alone limits those legal issues. It used to be that I would gladly pass anyone that was, incomprehensibly I might add, not blatantly ignoring the speed limit. But, ever since gas went up to $1.45/L back in '008, I have a better appreciation for the speed limit. It is amazing how fuel-efficient my car is at 80km/hr. I must admit, I still like to go fast, but now when I come up behind some misguided driver concerned with safety or functionality over fun and thrill-seeking, I just follow them. I mean I have patience. I think it might even be a virtue,.. but actually I'm just cheap.

Extreme weather bike

So today when I biked to school there was some wicked white out and blizzard action. There was even accumulation on me. Accumulated in the time it takes me to get to school. Needless to say I was damp for the rest of the day. That's ok though, because it helped smooth out the wrinkles in my pants that I had failed to iron.

Dreadmill

Well, I've been frequenting the gym quite a lot since Christmas. The Peterborough Y half-marathon is coming up pretty soon and I was in pretty bad shape after three weeks of doing nothing but stuffing my face. Amazingly I even gained some weight over those holidays, but since going to school I've already lost it again. Oh well. I guess if I ever want to realize my dream of being more weighty I'm going to have to put my laziness into high gear. Well, not all dreams come true.

Graphic festivity

Well the results of the favourite Christmas special poll are in. Well.. They've been in for a while. The results are surprising. A three way tie. But really they're all so classic it's tough to put one above the others. So I won't.