Addictions and Bad Dreams

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

Dancing to Michael Jackson songs on a front stoop in Liberty Village at 2am on a Thursday.

All them fresh fruit and vegetables my sister-in-law gets from the Weston Farmer's Market.

Mad Men Season Three

OKcupid quizzes

Avoiding this Communications Theory paper that I need to write

Edith Piaf

In honour of my friends Trisha and Roy who are throwing a Edith Piaf themed party this evening...

The Danforth Music Hall Shuts Down

According to the Toronto Star, the legendary Music Hall on Danforth Avenue has been closed due to non-payment of rent - an amount of $44,857.86

The 91-year-old building a heritage site, began as a vaudeville theatre and served for many years as a second-run movie house called The Century before undergoing renovations in 2005 and reopening as a theatre venue.

I fondly remember seeing the Stray Cats in concert at the Music Hall in 1991.

Read The Toronto Star story

Soundgarden bassist broke

Even after a headlining spot at this summer's Lollapalooza show and a Soundgarden retrospective to be released next month, the legendary Seattle grunge band's bassist Ben Shepherd is homeless and broke.

According to a Spin Magazine interview, Shepherd first found himself homeless following a breakup with his girlfriend earlier this year. Since then, he's been putting all of his money towards a solo album — which he isn't even sure if he'll release.

This is the culmination of more than a decade's worth of struggles for Shepherd, including the demise of a number of his bands, including Soundgarden and Hater, a breakup with his fiance and a morphine overdose.

He tells Spin: "I've been sleeping on studio couches and at friends' houses."

I have seen Soundgarden live many times I can tell you how good a bass player Ben Shepherd is. Someone get him a gig soon.

Read the exclaim.ca story

Quite appropriately, the exclaim story is accompanied by the video for the Soundgarden song Fell on Black Days, from the 1994 album Superunknown

J.D. Salinger's Toilet on Sale for $1 million

A North Carolina collectibles dealer is selling a toilet from reclusive author J.D. Salinger's former home.

The bowl is on sale on ebay with an asking price of a million dollars, although Rick Kohl, the owner of said commode, isn't sure how much he will be able to get for the item.

Uhmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...I don't know what to say here.

Read the komonews story

Addictions and Bad Dreams

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

Them Crooked Vultures (yes, still)

pizzas with whole wheat dough

my new nephew, Noah

the latest adjustments to my golf swing

writing essays while trying to watch Hell's Kitchen

Yo Gabba Gabba with my niece

How we found hundreds of Earth-like planets

Astronomer Dimitar Sasselov and his colleagues search for Earth-like planets that may, someday, help us answer centuries-old questions about the origin and existence of biological life elsewhere (and on Earth). How many such planets have they found already? Several hundreds.

Watch the TED.com video.

The week it was...

After a five month hiatus, I have returned to spout out more useless posts.

The week it has been:

The Globe and Mail /CTV News reports that the Niagara Region's tourist board is trying to improve their standing as a tourist attraction by taking cheap shots at Toronto. Watch the CTV clip.

This foxphilly.com article still doesn't explain my terrible luck with on-line dating sites. Perhaps I should pose as a woman...looking for women who don't mind ending up with a man?

Read this 9News article on how a Vienna church was trying to sell a used confessional on ebay. The item was described on the on-line auction site as "deal for conversion into a one-person sauna, a small bar or a children's playhouse." The Vienna Archdiocese has a few things to say about this!

The NYC soup shop that inspired the Soup Nazi on the hit sitcom Seinfeld reopens. Read the USAToday article.

According to a exclaim.ca news piece, Justin Bieber has jammed with Dr. Dre.

Doug Fieger R.I.P

Doug Fieger, lead singer of the power pop band The Knack, passed way on Valentines Day.

The Knack are internationally renowned for their hits “My Sharona“ and “Good Girls Don't“ from their 1979 record Get the Knack.

After battling cancer for several years, Fieger died at his home in Woodland Hills, California. He was 57 years old

Read the L.A Times story

Doctor reprimanded for telling patient to go on a f...ing diet!

A New Zealand surgeon was reprimanded by officials for being unprofessional after he told a severely obese gastric bypass patient to “go on a f…ing diet.”

The 44-year-old woman claimed the doctor said the “F” word at least three times after she told him she did not like the word “diet” and preferred the term “lifestyle” instead, CBS News reports.

The doctor admitted to using bad language during the tense consultation with the woman who, afterward, lodged complaints with the Health and Disability commissioner - who suggested the doctor attend a communication skills course.

I don`t know about you, but I think gastric times call for gastric measures! It seems the doctor was just suggesting a change in the woman`s “lifestyle” or else she may die. Clearly the doctor cares more about the health of this woman than she does.


Read the APP story

Addictions and Bad Dreams

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

Tutoring Korean students
this G.I diet
my sister-in-law's food processor
toque shopping
Canada men's ice hockey team
Holmes on Homes

The Beaver changes name

Canada's second-oldest magazine, The Beaver, is changing its name after 90 years because the title is too often censored by online porn filters, preventing it from reaching new online readers.

The Winnipeg-based magazine was launched in 1920 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Hudson's Bay Company and the fur trade that led to the early exploration of Canada.

But in modern times, the term "beaver" has become slang for women's genitals.

The magazine that chronicles Canada's past will publish its last issue under the old banner in February/March. Thereafter, it will be known under the less evocative name of Canada's History

Read the Yahoo story

The team bus of the Togo national football team was attacked by terrorists on January 8 as the team traveled from the Republic of the Congo to Angola on the way to the 2010 African Cup of Nations tournament, due to begin on January 10

The bus driver, the team's assistant manager Abalo Amelete and media officer Stanislas Ocloo were killed, with several others injured. Togo government officials have withdrawn the team from the tournament.

Read the BBC story

R.I.P Art Clokey

Animator Art Clokey, whose bendable creation Gumby became a pop culture phenomenon through decades of toys, revivals and satires, died Friday. He was 88.

Clokey, who suffered from repeated bladder infections, died in his sleep at his home in Los Osos, CA.

Gumby grew out of a student project Clokey produced at the University of Southern California in the early 1950s called "Gumbasia."

That led to his making shorts featuring Gumby and his horse friend Pokey for the "Howdy Doody Show" and several series through the years.

Eddie Murphy brought a surge in Gumby's popularity in the 1980s with his send-up of the character on "Saturday Night Live" as a cigar-smoking show business primadonna.

Read the Globe and Mail story

Addictions and bad dreams

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

baking banana loaf
shoveling snow
my new long underwear
Aron Sorkin-written television programs
AE Sports' Tiger Wood 2010 for the Wii
danceradio chillout

War and Peas

Israel has taken the upper hand in a new kind of Middle East conflict.

Cooks in an Arab town near Jerusalem whipped up more than four tons of hummus, which doubled the previous record for the world's biggest serving - set in October in Lebanon - and broke an earlier Israeli record.

Hundreds of jubilant Israelis, a mix of Arabs and Jews, gathered around the satellite dish used to prepare the hummus in the town of Abu Ghosh.

Guinness World Records confirmed the Israelis now held the record putting the exact amount of hummus in the giant dish at 9,017 lbs (4,090 kilograms).

Lebanon and Israel have officially been at war for six decades. Three months ago, when the Lebanese chefs prepared their record-breaking dish, they called it a move to reaffirm ownership of a Lebanese food they claimed had been appropriated by Israelis.

The hummus war has been simmering for some time. In 2008, a group of Lebanese businessmen announced plans to sue Israel to stop it from marketing hummus and other regional dishes as Israeli.

Read the Los Angeles Times story.

Canada's 2010 Men's Olympic Hockey Roster Announced

The home team at the 201o Olympic Ice Hockey Tournament has been determined.

Steve Yzerman, Executive Director of Team Canada announced the line up for Canada's Men hockey team for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic games during the World Junior Hockey Championships in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on Dec 30.

Among Canada shoe-ins Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby, Calgary Flames' Jarome Iginla, Anehiem Ducks' Scott Niedermayer, and Philadelphia Flyers' Chris Pronger , some surprises include LA Kings' sophmore defenceman Drew Doughty and Boston Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron.

Much of the talk following the announcement were of the notable omissions - Tampa Bay Lightning's Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier and Steven Sstamkos; Calgary's defense corps Jay Bouwmeester, Dion Phaneuf and Robyn Regehr; and Mike Green of the Washington Capitals.

The 2010 Winter Olympic men's hockey tournament will take place February 11 - March 1.

Read the CTV Olympics story for the complete line up.

Lists of the Decade

The proverbially end of a decade (technically the decade ends Dec 31, 2010), always brings about a gluttony of end-of-decade lists flooding our screens and pages.

Here are a few that, for one reason or another, got my attention

The Toronto Star offers: Five things we've grown to hate over the last decade
The piece's headline reads: "If they would only go away when the decade ends." The article is illustrated with a picture of Amy Winehouse and I think #4 involves someone named Hilton. You can guess where this goes...

www.t5m.com's Nicholas Deigman does much of the heavy lifting in his compilation: The Top 10 'Top 10 of the Decade list' of the Decade...List
Deigman lists include:
Top Ten Most Influential Internet Moments of the Decade
Top Ten Most Unwinnable Arguments of the Decade
Top Ten One Hit Wonders of the Decade
Top Ten Hockey Fights of the Decade

The blog artmusicfilmwhatever presents 106 Best Films of the Decade.
The list consists of the ususal suspects: Oscar-winning blockbusters (The Aviator), charming indie fare (Once), sub-titled offerings (Dare mo shiranai), whistle-blowing documentaries (Bowling for Columbine), fun animation (Finding Nemo) and the extremely overrated (Donnie Darko).

SoulBounce.com comments on Entertainment Weekly's Top 10 albums of the last ten years.
I am not too sure how I feel about a music critic - regardless of musical taste - that has never listened to Funeral by Arcade Fire.

BabyCenter's list of the most-popular baby names of the year and the decade
Some of my favourites include Kayla, Emma, Sydney and Ava for girls and Jacob, Lucas, Jackson and Ethan for boys. I assume this is an American list.

betterPropaganda present their list of their 100 Artists of the Decade, as well as their list of 100 Albums of the Decade.

The MNE's Top 100 Greatest Albums of the Decade as voted for by NME staff (past and present) plus a selection of musicians and industry figures that included Arctic Monkeys, Carl Barat, The Killers, Jarvis Cocker, Pete Doherty, Elbow, Johnny Marr, MGMT, Ian Brown, The Big Pink, Snoop Dogg, Alan McGee, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Michael Eavis and many, many more.

RIP Brittany Murphy

For many of those coming of age in the mid to late 1990's, Brittany Murphy and her roles in Clueless and 8 Mile were a reflection of the many of those who were looking for direction in life.

Rest in piece, Ms Murphy...

Minnesota Wild Equipment Catches Fire

A van carrying equipment for the Minnesota Wild caught fire on December 18. The accident left the team scrambling ahead of its Saturday game against the Ottawa Senators.

The fire started when the cube van carrying the equipment to Scotiabank Place, the Senator's home arena at about 2:30 p.m. The Wild had practised at a community complex about a five-minute drive from the arena, as the building was booked for a concert that night. No one was hurt and the cause has yet to be determined.

It was initially thought that all the equipment was destroyed but the gear of nine players were recovered intact.

The Wild chartered in new equipment, including skates, pads and sticks , however some of the players decided to take matters into their own hands. Defenceman Nick Schultz spent $200 on a pair of shoulder pads at a local sports store. Left winger Andrew Brunette had to re-call a gift. A stick he had given to a friend's son after practice was retrieved and replaced with a new one.

Many NHLers are superstitious and some have used the same equipment since their days in junior. And although the Wild players had to adjustto the new gear for their 4-1 loss on December 19, they did not want to use it as an excuse.


Watch the TSN clip