Colin Powell Endorses Obama

Colin Powell, a Republican and retired general who was President Bush's first secretary of state, broke with the party Sunday and endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president, calling him a "transformational figure" while criticizing the tone of John McCain's campaign.

Powell, on NBC program Meet the Press, said Obama had "met the standard" to be commander-in-chief "because of his ability to inspire" Americans of all ages and ethnic and political stripes."I think he would be a transformational president. For that reason I will be voting for Senator Barack Obama," said Powell, who was the first African-American to serve as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.

Should Obama win in just over two weeks, "all Americans should be proud, not just African-Americans," he said. "It would not just electrify our country, it would electrify the world.

Read the Associated Press story

Addictions and Bad Dreams

My current obsessions, time wasters and indulgences, in no particular order, are:

Curtis Mayfield
Three's Company Season Two on DVD
sake shashimi
Orangina 473mL bottles
Argyle socks
Mob Wars application on Facebook
chickpeas

R.I.P Frankie Venom

The lead vocalist of legendary Canadian punk band Teenage Head has died. Frank Venom, (nee Kerr) had recently battled throat cancer. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Kerr was the lead singer of the Hamilton-based band which formed at Westdale High School back in 1975.

Considered the Eastern-Canadian ambassadors of the original punk movement, Teenage Head were Kerr, guitarist Gord Lewis, bassist Steve Mahon and drummer Nick Stipanitz.

The death coincides with an announcement that same morning that Teenage Head would receive a special lifetime achievement award during the 2008 Hamilton Music Awards taking place Nov. 13-16. 

Frankie Venom was 51.

Read the Toronto Star story

Smile of the Week

Dr. Floyd Peeper of the Electric Mayhem band performing a George Harrison masterpiece.

R.I.P Alton Ellis

The Godfather of Rocksteady Alton Ellis died on October 10.

The Jamaican legend was instrumental in the rocksteady movement, a slower version of ska music. Ellis first recording the Mad Mad riddim in 1967, which became a much used beat to a plethora of rocksteady records, as well as being sampled by hip hop artist such as KRS-One and Tupac Shakur.

Ellis scored big with hits "Girl I've Got a Date", "Cry Tough" and "Get Ready - Rock Steady", which was the first song to refer to the name of the newer genre. His Mr. Soul of Jamaica album is regarded as one of the definitive rocksteady albums.

Ellis succumbed to lymphatic cancer at Hammersmith Hospital in West London. He was 70.

On a personal note, during the mid-90s, my older brother Roderick played guitar for one of Alton's twenty children, Noel Ellis, on a Canadian tour.

Riddim!

Mafiaboy Speaks

In 1999, someone hacked into e-commerce websites like CNN, Yahoo, Amazon and eBay and grounded them to a halt. Then U.S president Bill Clinton called a task force to try to capture the hacker only known as mafiaboy. It turns out the big time hacker was 15 year old Michael Culce , a Montreal teenager.

A book has been released by Craig Silverman to tell his story. His first media interview ever was on October 8 on CBC The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos.

Watch The Hour interview

Rap Fan Sentenced to Listening to Classical Music

An Ohio man was facing a $150 fine for playing rap music too loudly on his car stereo when Champaign County Municipal Court Judge Susan Fornof-Lippencott offered to reduce that to $35 if the defendant Andrew Vactor spent 20 hours listening to classical music by the likes of Bach, Beethoven and Chopin.

But the 24-year-old Vactor lasted about 15 minutes before deciding to pay the full fine for the ticket he received in July of this year.

Read the story from Boise's 2news.tv

Colin and Justin's Home Heist Season Premier

HGTV's popular maverick home makeover show Colin and Justin's Home Heist premiered their second season with a very tense episode on October 2.

By the way, my sister Cheryl directed this episode.

Watch episodes of Colin and Justin's Home Heist at the HGTV website.

Archie Bunker on Democrats

Archie Bunker's view on American politics in 1976 - Funny how over thirty years later, there isn't much difference

Bill Maher's New Rules for Oct 3

HBO television show Real Time with Bill Maher's New Rules segment for October 3. This week: Pope Benedict and gays, celebrity colognes, Amy Winehouse and Sarah Palin’s Bible First philosophy.

The Toronto Star's 10 Things We Learned This Week

Some of the things we learned this week, according to the Toronto Star's weekly feature "10 Things We Learned This Week" includes:

John Lydon, a.k.a. Sex Pistols punk rocker Johnny Rotten, has filmed a British TV commercial for Country Life Butter.

Human toothpaste contains foaming agents that could make a dog vomit.

King Henry VIII went from a 32-inch waist early in his rule to a 54-inch waist near the end. At his death, he weighed just under 420 pounds.

Read the Toronto Star Story

Sean Avery on the Hour

Sean Avery, the National Hockey League's current most hated player, reveals a side of himself that many people wouldn't usually see in this interview with The Hour's George Stroumboulopoulos.

As a raving hockey fan, I have gained some respect for Avery as a man, if not as a player

Watch The Hour interview.

The Sweater

In honour of opening week of the 2008-09 NHL regular season, here is the timeless National Film Board of Canada (NFB) animated short The Sweater, or Le Chandail.

This classic story, which is based on the 1979 short story Le chandail de hockey by Quebec author Roch Carrier has been said to be a parallel to the cultural and linguistic tensions between Canada's anglophone and francophone communities.

I just say this is a classic piece of Canadiana .

Opposition Leaders Team up on Harper During English Debate

Prime Minister and Conservative Leader Stephen Harper found himself on the defensive on Thursday, Oct 2, with the other party leaders combining forces to attack his record on the economy and environment in the Political leaders' English language-debate, the final one, prior to the October 14 election.

Despite the frequent attacks, Harper appeared largely relaxed for the first hour, but occasionally showed the tight smile he displayed in French-language debate the night before.

Throughout the two-hour session at Ottawa's National Arts Centre, the Conservative leader was quizzed by NDP Leader Jack Layton, Green Leader Elizabeth May, Stéphane Dion of the Liberals and the Bloc Québécois's Gilles Duceppe on how he proposes to address Canada's financial situation in light of the U.S. crisis. Layton in particular was notably aggressive on the PM's stance that the government must stay its course on the economy and that Canada's fiscal fundamentals are strong. "The economy is not fine," Layton said to Harper. "Either you don't care or you are incompetent. Which is it?"

The debate also saw Layton laying into Dion, saying the Liberal leader tacitly supported Harper’s agenda by failing to vote down the minority Conservatives sooner: “His policies, your responsibility,” said Layton, jabbing his finger at Dion. “If you can’t do your job as leader of the opposition, I don’t know why you’re running to be Prime Minister,” Layton said.


Read up on the debate:

The Toronto Star article

The Globe and Mail article

The CBC article

The CTV news article

The Juice Convicted

On Friday, October 3, thirteen years to the day after he was acquitted of the murder of his wife, Nicole Brown and her friend, Ron Goldman, O.J. Simpson was found guilty of kidnapping and armed robbery.

The former NFL player was found guilty of robbing two sports-memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel room.

The 61 year old Simpson was convicted of all 12 counts late Friday after jurors deliberated for more than 13 hours. He released a heavy sigh as the charges were read and was immediately taken into custody.

Sentencing was set for Dec. 5. Kidnapping is punishable by five years to life in prison. Armed robbery carries a mandatory sentence of at least two years behind bars, and could bring as much as 30.

Now, I am not passing judgment on this case, but talk about karma coming back and biting you on the ass!

Read the U.S.A Today article

You Learn Somethig New Everyday

The world's largest K-Mart is on the island of Guam

The bubbles in Guiness Beer sink to the bottom rather than float to the top like all other beers. No one knows why.

If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar.

In most advertisments, including newspapers, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10 because then the hands of the watch frame the brand name on the watch face.

Artist Plans to Smoke 'Cobain's Ashes'

German artist Natascha Stellmach is claiming to be in possession of Kurt Cobain’s stolen ashes and is threatening to smoke them as part of a morbid art exhibition.

The Berlin-based Stellmach won't reveal how she obtain the late-Nirvana frontman's remains says she will smoke the remains as part of the forthcoming Set Me Free exhibition at the city's Wagner + Partner gallery on October 11th.

This congers up memories of Tommy Chong's character in the film Nice Dreams, when he hoped his friends would snort his remains at his funeral.

Read the Canoe.ca story

Jon Stewart Rants on Congress

Jon Stewart of the Daily Show rips into the U.S congress for not passing a bill to help save the economy.

Damn funny!

Harper used Howard's speech

A Conservative staff member resigned and apologized Tuesday for writing a speech read by Stephen Harper in 2003 as leader of the Opposition that plagiarized from an address days earlier by then Australian prime minister John Howard.

Owen Lippert apologised for being "overzealous in copying segments of another world leader's speech" and said his bosses at the time were unaware he had done so.

The apology came hours after Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae accused Harper of plagiarizing from the Howard speech.

Take it from someone who lived in Australia at the height of the War on Terror, John Howard was nothing but a puppet of the Bush administration, there is no doubt that Stephen Harper is just as much a puppet.

Get this guy out of office...and now!

Read the Liberal.ca story