| this is a test. at greta's showing her about blogspot. |
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Meeting Gordon Lightfoot
this is the autograph i got from gordon lightfoot. it's in rough shape, i better get it into some kind of shrink wrap thingy. it says, 'to ken, best wishes, gordon lightfoot'.thought i would tell you about the time i met him. it was pretty cool, although i wasn't really into him at the time. this was about 1980, and i was living in a really small town in northern ontario - really small - if you live in a large city, there are more people living on your block than live in this town.
anyway, hornepayne is a great place to fish and hunt................and drink.
actually, there is nothing else to do. so i guess gordon wanted to go fishing and hunting..................and drinking.
a buddy and i were bumming around the streets one night - the ONE street i mean (yes, it's that small) - and someone told us that gordon lightfoot was over at blah blahs, (i didn't know them, my buddy did). so i picked up the phone and called, yes, i did.
the man of the house answered, and it went something like this. i don't remember the conversation verbatim, so i am ad-libbing:
man: "hello."
me: "hi, is gordon lightfoot there please?"
man: "just a sec." (this was when i fell down for the first time)
gordon lightfoot: "hello."
me: "is this gordon lightfoot?"
gordon lightfoot: "yes." (this is when i fell down for the second time)
me: "can i come over?"
gordon lightfoot: "sure, as long as you don't bring a crowd."
me: (after getting up again) "OK, thanks."
it was that easy. this is a small town afterall, and i guess gordon wasn't worried about media hounds or assassins.
so my buddy and i went to this house and i rapped on the door. it was at that moment that my buddy ran - i'm still not sure why he did that - afraid of meeting a celebrity?
i was let in, i saw some people i knew, some i didn't. a beer was thrust into my hand (in hornepayne, they thrust beers into your hand. they are famous for that - "go to hornepayne, they thrust beers into your hand, and not just one, like five").
i sat down in the corner to watch the proceedings, all the while thinking i was dreaming. gordon lightfoot was sitting across the room from me. some people were jamming on acoustics, gordon wasn't. he said he wasn't there to play.
this is the late '70s remember, so he still had some meat on his body, and a cute curly kind of perm thing going in his hair. now he looks like walking death. i think he did his fair share of partying in his day, and it has taken its toll.
so the night unfolded nicely, and i ended up being able to talk to him, one on one, in a corner. i told him i was a drummer (don't remember what he said).
then later he did play (i forget what he played). then he told everyone that he mentions hornepayne (the town we were in) in one of his new songs on his 'dream street rose album'. that section of lyrics is here:
"....was it up in Hornepayne where the trains run on time
Was she drinking champagne when she made up her mind
North of the border or down in South Bend
And when all is said and done
Is there no rainbow's end....."
that was pretty cool.
and i do remember he had caluses (how do you spell that word?) as big as oven mitts on his left hand, from playing guitar for so long. they were huge.
earlier that day, or was it the next day? gordon was given a tour of the railway operations in town. the only reason hornepayne exists is basically because of the Canadian National Railway. i still have to ask my mom about this, but i do believe my dad, who was a big-wig on the railway, gave him the tour.
before i left that night, gordon was giving people free passes to his upcoming show at massey hall in toronto (it is a yearly event), but i declined, because travelling down to toronto for a show just wasn't something i would be able to do.
and i do remember after we all left that house that night, i was stumbling down the right side of the ONE street in town, and gordon and his girlfriend were walking? down the other, and i was saying 'goodnight, nice to meet you, blah blah blah'. and he was saying, 'yeah, yeah, yeah' or something.
so the next day i'm telling all my friends about meeting him the night before, and they didn't believe me. we were hanging out in the lobby of the motel he was staying in. next thing i know, gordon and his girlfriend come down the stairs and go to the front desk to check out.
my friends are looking at me like, 'yeah, nice story ken. yeah, you bloody liar'.
a couple of moments later, gordon turns around, and says hi to me! YEAH! redemption (not sure what that word means). my story proven.
it wasn't the 'hi' that someone will say to someone they have never met, it was the 'hi' that people who HAVE met before say.
my friends tucked their tails under their bums and went and hid in the corner.
it was great. he probably wouldn't remember me now. maybe, if i related the whole story to him.
rock on gord!
America's meanest drivers....
got this off the net:
America's Meanest Drivers:
1. Miami
2. New York
3. Boston
4. Los Angeles
5. Washington, D.C.
6. Phoenix
7. Chicago
8. Sacramento
9. Philadelphia
10. San Francisco
11. Houston
12. Atlanta
13. Detroit
14. Minneapolis-St. Paul
15. Baltimore
where do you live?
Source: AutoVantage
i wish they would do one for Canada.
America's Meanest Drivers:
1. Miami
2. New York
3. Boston
4. Los Angeles
5. Washington, D.C.
6. Phoenix
7. Chicago
8. Sacramento
9. Philadelphia
10. San Francisco
11. Houston
12. Atlanta
13. Detroit
14. Minneapolis-St. Paul
15. Baltimore
where do you live?
Source: AutoVantage
i wish they would do one for Canada.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
let the games begin.....
this is what the inside of the roman coliseum looks like now.....unfortunately. hard to believe considering what it looked like back in the day.the floor used to be made of wood, but it has all rotted away. below that you can see where workers used to work, gladiators used to just hang out, and where animals would be kept to be later let out onto the playing field.
four generations....
we have four generations here (before i was born): my sister, my mom, i think this guy is my dad's mom's dad, my grandmother, my brother; capreol, c. 1960.hovercraft.....
this is me in front of that hovercraft i was riding on in that earlier shot. i made this print in the darkroom at work, but it looks like i didn't process it long enough. soon....it will be gone!I am High Lord of the Westland
i beat Shadowgate on the PC, and this is what came up. i earned the title of High Lord of the Westland. now if i could only find it!mush.....
i took this pic for the paper, parry sound, ontario, late '80s. the reason the pic is cut behind the dog on the left is so that when the paper is published, it looks like the dog is jumping right off the page.highway accident....
i came across this accident whilst travelling down hwy. 17 from terrace bay, ontario, in march of '88. the transport went off the road and ended up in this deep ditch. it was carrying cows. some cows died, some didn't.in order to get the dead cows back up to the road, workers wrapped chains around their necks and a tow truck pulled them up. it was gross. i don't remember what they did with the cows that lived.
a good day to die....
all things roman fascinate me to no end. this the coliseum, built so that people could kill each other. it's kind of in bad shape, and what is harming it mostly now is emission from traffic.an entire half of the upper section is gone. eventually the games stopped, and that is when people starting stealing the stone to build their own houses. earthquakes took their toll as well.
romans were so into partying and killing people that some people had as much as 200 or more days in row off from work.
Blackout
this is supposed to be a shot of the blackout we had back in august of 2005? i don't know, does it look right to you? the circle is supposed to be around ontario. is that where ontario is? the circle looks too far to the right.i checked an atlas, and it looks like what is circled is parts of quebec, new brunswick, nova scotia, maine, new hampshire, vermont, boston, and new york.
putting out the fire....
shot of a waterbomber making a pass over a bark pile fire, terrace bay, ontario, late '80s. there is a pulp mill in terrace bay, they make paper out of trees. and they leave huge piles of bark all over the place. well what happens is, the weight of the bark on itself creates spontaneous combustion, and voila! a fire.incidentally, my brother works for bombardier in montreal, quebec, and they make these planes there.
graffiti
i spray painted my love for a girl i was going out with at the time on this rock. you can't read it, you can only see the green paint; highway 17 between sudbury and sturgeon falls, ontario, '90s.i had to do this at least once in my life.
just a swingin'.....
my reflection in the water. this used to be a bridge, but all the wood has rotted away, just leaving these two cables....so i crossed it anyway. it wasn't easy, the cables kept swinging back and forth.capreol, ontario, '80s.
room with a view.....
this was the view from where we lived, point pleasant marina, parry sound, ontario, early '90s.i've been a miner for a heart of gold....
an old, abandoned mine, cobalt, ontario, '90s. looks like it is going to fall in on itself any second.the beauty of nature....
rotting wood in vermillion lake, capreol, ontario, '80s. a bridge must have gone across here at one time.a reflection.....
taking a picture of my reflection in this guy's helmet. taking a ride on a hovercraft, parry sound, '80s. hovercraft are sort of like those things they ride in the everglades, just smaller.star trek: generations
now i'm thinking about that movie. i consider it to be one of the best of the series. here is my list, from best to worst:
1. star trek 2: the wrath of khan (everything about it was good; good story line, cool bad guy. by the way, that was really ricardo montalban's chest in that movie). khan was a carry over from an original star trek episode, which is cool. in the late '60's episode, kirk sends khan and his friends to some planet to live out the rest of their lives. they had tried to kill the crew and take over the enterprise.
they were sent to a planet that wasn't that bad of a place to live. turns out, over time, it turned into a horrible place to live, and kahn is not pleased.
this movie was made more than 10 years after that original episode, so it was a nice connection between the two.
2. have to go with star trek: 4 the voyage home (more comedy than any other star trek movie; they return to present day earth in a klingon bird of prey, which, according to star trek lore, was originally a romulan ship, but was stolen by the klingons - yes, i know way too much).
stuff like kirk saying spock took too much LDS, instead of LSD. the time travel thing was kind of goofy, but hey, it's star trek.
3. have to go with star trek: generations here. kirk and picard meet! that's pretty cool. the nexus thing was kind of goofy though. introduced for the first time, of course, this nexus thingy lets you go anywhere in your mind that you want to. so this is how kirk and picard get to meet.
back in kirk's day, he is sucked into the nexus. we now know that now, but at the time, everyone else thought he died. eighty years later, picard gets sucked into the nexus. so you see, time has no meaning here. when picard gets sucked in, kirk is in there. as long as you are in there, you pretty well get to live forever.
that reminds me of another thing - basically this movie shows that picard cannot take on the bad guy by himself, he needs help. pretty handy that he could enlist the help of a guy that was supposed to be dead, but was luckily still alive thanks to the nexus thingy.
talk about messing around with the timeline thing. star trek always talks about not messing with the timeline, it screws things up. i guess they threw that out the window, because kirk returns to picard's time to help him fight soran. and, like i said, pretty sad that it takes two star trek captains to take on one guy in a tight black outfit, who doesn't even have any super powers or even a big gun.
my favourite part was picard in the nexus thingy. it takes you to anywhere your mind wants to go. picard never married nor had a family. when he wakes in the nexus thingy, it's christmas, and he has a wife and family. i almost cried. guess you had to be there.
4. star trek 6: the undiscovered country (only because it's better than what's left). it was the last movie to feature the original cast. it had a decent story line - OK, i don't remember too much about this one - it was better than what's left. foreman's dad from that '70s show was in it, the actor who played Odo from deep space nine was in it, that worf guy from star trek: the next generation was in it, he got to play his own grandfather, and so on.....
5. i guess i will put in star trek 1: the movie here. sure, it was the first to resurrect the original cast, to every trekkies' delight. but it wasn't that great of a movie. it was directed by a really respected director too, robert wise.
and it was made when special effects were getting better, although, in this movie, they don't look that great. remember, star wars came out two years or so before this one.
it must have looked great on paper, but it was kind of boring....too long, not really a great story. i will try to sum up quickly: some kind of entity, a huge entity i might add, is killing things.....something like that. klingons are going in there and getting killed, but klingons should be killed, so who cares?
so kirk and company decide to investigate. they play nice, so the thingy thing doesn't kill them. they finally get to the center of this huge entity thingy.....and land. turns out......don't read if you don't want to know......what's powering this huge entity thingy is a space probe that humans sent out from earth years ago.
it travelled around the universe, gaining POWER and KNOWLEDGE, and was able to create these great special effects all around itself. i guess what is more important is that it had gained, like, an awareness about itself. it wanted to know who its creator was. it wanted to meet its CREATOR.
and everyone is going 'whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?'
back up a bit. before the crew landed on the thingy, the thingy sent a representative to talk to them. it was like a holographic thingy, in the form of a bald babe, who in real life is now dead. this holographic, bald, thingy thing was awesome - she could walk through walls and stuff, but she couldn't speak proper english.
but she was good looking, so it didn't matter - everyone was going 'wowowowowwowowowow'.
anyway, so they land, they get to the center of this thingy, and find this contraption. and it looks oddly familiar. up to this point everyone has been calling it v'ger.
kirk, or someone, walks up to the thing, and finds dirt and grime and stuff on this thingy (can dirt and grime and stuff exist in space?) and he wipes away some dirt and grime to find........
don't read further.........that it says voyager................ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.........it's not v'ger, it's voyager, a space probe launched by humans a bizillion years ago......actually in our time.
anyway.....aaahhhhhhhhhhhha...........they realize that a voyager probe from earth has now become sort of like, aware, like your dog or cat will never do..........and that it wants to meet its CREATOR........whatttttttttttttttttttttttttt?.....which, by the way, is you and me.
we....are.....the.....CREATORS! like kirk would say.
anyway, so....because that guy from seventh heaven, that collins guy, is so horny, he agrees to MATE with the bald babe thingy thing so that it can meet its creator. wow, good thing, we didn't have another plan!
so they mate, not like you and i know it, sort of like a special effects sex scene mating thingy - and all is well after that. maybe this movie belongs on the bottom of the list.
6. star trek: first contact. i'm starting to think i don't like star trek movies so much anymore. this is like therapy for me, and i can finally rid myself of my star trek obssession (as if i want to do that!).
again, this one is here because it's better than what's left. the borg are in this one - the borg are supposed to be scary, but they are not. they were cool when we first saw them, way back when....but, now, they are just stupid.
you can walk amongst them as long as you don't cause trouble! what kind of bad guy is that?
borg, thinking to himself/herself: i am a borg, i have no brain, i am covered in steel and have all these cool killing attachments on me.......so why is it that i just basically stand around looking stupid? and why is that i don't actually kill anything with my cool killing attachments? oh.....hold on...i think it's because i am a sad star trek baddie! yeah.....that's it!
they were cool, like i said, when we first met them, but they turned into something less scary than that stoop-id doll in 'child's play'.
ok, stop meeeeeeee!
7. star trek: the search for spock. i had to go back to this one (not because i wanted to). spock died in the movie before this, so of course they had to bring him back, and they do in this one. how does that sound? yes, as boring as it sounds. the genesis project brought spock back from the dead. he was re-born on this planet, and kirk and crew find him down there as a boy - don't ask!
it was geeky. christopher lloyd, who we loved in 'taxi' and the 'back to the future' movies was in this one, in really bad make-up and reading really bad lines.
lloyd and kirk have a 'fight to the death' thing going on' - geez, i wonder who is going to win? - apparently, for this fight scene, the rocks around these two guys were supposed to go up and down - but they didn't work right - so they don't go up and down.
lloyd dies, kirk looks up, and sees whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? the enterprise disintegrating. YES! the enterprise is dead - which, allows the guys to steal that klingon bird of prey, so that they can fly around in that for the next movie. yeah!
8. star trek: nemesis. ok. if you are still with me at this point, i thank you. i'm barely here. even though, i will still watch these movies..............how sad is that? hey, maybe i won't. how happy is that?
nemesis. did poorly at the box office. do we need someone who can actually come up with some interesting ideas? i think so.
quickly: earlier, the romulans had picard cloned. now his clone is back to reek havoc on the crew - to do bad things. so picard meets his clone, and the bad guy has this really awesome weapon that can wipe out an entire thingy in a few thingy minutes.
the part when picard and data escape from the clone guy's ship was kind of cool. picard had to pilot this clone thingy ship through the corridors of the clone guy's ship. and it was pretty handy that data could understand the controls of this alien ship, or they weren't going anywhere.
DON'T READ PAST HERE!
this movie is memorable really only for the reason that DATA DIES IN IT! sorry, data can't die. you have to be human to die................dont' you?
data sacrifices himself for the crew - the bad guy's ship blows up real good at the end. and really, data doesn't really die - or at least, he is not gone forever, because at the beginning of the movie, the crew finds all these parts of an android on this planet. turns out it is B4 - get it? before data. this android was built by data's creator before he created data. but he is a lot dumber than data.
at the end, data is gone, but B4 stays with the crew, so it's like data is still around.
9. star trek: insurrection - ? this movie is pretty forgettable. i think it has something to do with this race of bad guys who find that there are healing properties on this certain planet, which makes them younger. problem is, there are inhabitants living there. so the bad guys are going to get rid of the inhabitants, and the enterprise crew must stop them.
blah! there are a couple of cool parts though. at the beginning, data goes AWOL - don't remember why, and takes off in a shuttle. so picard makes chase and they manage to latch onto data's shuttle and bring him down. another funnyish part was when data fell into deep water. he simply walked back to shore walking along the bottom - he doesn't have to breathe.
later we learn that won't happen again because data can now change himself into some sort of flotation device. yay!
10. Star Trek: the final frontier - worst star trek movie. spock's half brother sybok hijacks the enterprise because he wants to go meet God - he has the co-ordinates! blah blah blah.
they do in fact meet up with this 'entity' and sybok believes it is God, but it is not very friendly, and threatens harm or death or something, so that's how the crew knows it can't be God. what a waste.
there you go. you still there? me? i just fell asleep.
1. star trek 2: the wrath of khan (everything about it was good; good story line, cool bad guy. by the way, that was really ricardo montalban's chest in that movie). khan was a carry over from an original star trek episode, which is cool. in the late '60's episode, kirk sends khan and his friends to some planet to live out the rest of their lives. they had tried to kill the crew and take over the enterprise.
they were sent to a planet that wasn't that bad of a place to live. turns out, over time, it turned into a horrible place to live, and kahn is not pleased.
this movie was made more than 10 years after that original episode, so it was a nice connection between the two.
2. have to go with star trek: 4 the voyage home (more comedy than any other star trek movie; they return to present day earth in a klingon bird of prey, which, according to star trek lore, was originally a romulan ship, but was stolen by the klingons - yes, i know way too much).
stuff like kirk saying spock took too much LDS, instead of LSD. the time travel thing was kind of goofy, but hey, it's star trek.
3. have to go with star trek: generations here. kirk and picard meet! that's pretty cool. the nexus thing was kind of goofy though. introduced for the first time, of course, this nexus thingy lets you go anywhere in your mind that you want to. so this is how kirk and picard get to meet.
back in kirk's day, he is sucked into the nexus. we now know that now, but at the time, everyone else thought he died. eighty years later, picard gets sucked into the nexus. so you see, time has no meaning here. when picard gets sucked in, kirk is in there. as long as you are in there, you pretty well get to live forever.
that reminds me of another thing - basically this movie shows that picard cannot take on the bad guy by himself, he needs help. pretty handy that he could enlist the help of a guy that was supposed to be dead, but was luckily still alive thanks to the nexus thingy.
talk about messing around with the timeline thing. star trek always talks about not messing with the timeline, it screws things up. i guess they threw that out the window, because kirk returns to picard's time to help him fight soran. and, like i said, pretty sad that it takes two star trek captains to take on one guy in a tight black outfit, who doesn't even have any super powers or even a big gun.
my favourite part was picard in the nexus thingy. it takes you to anywhere your mind wants to go. picard never married nor had a family. when he wakes in the nexus thingy, it's christmas, and he has a wife and family. i almost cried. guess you had to be there.
4. star trek 6: the undiscovered country (only because it's better than what's left). it was the last movie to feature the original cast. it had a decent story line - OK, i don't remember too much about this one - it was better than what's left. foreman's dad from that '70s show was in it, the actor who played Odo from deep space nine was in it, that worf guy from star trek: the next generation was in it, he got to play his own grandfather, and so on.....
5. i guess i will put in star trek 1: the movie here. sure, it was the first to resurrect the original cast, to every trekkies' delight. but it wasn't that great of a movie. it was directed by a really respected director too, robert wise.
and it was made when special effects were getting better, although, in this movie, they don't look that great. remember, star wars came out two years or so before this one.
it must have looked great on paper, but it was kind of boring....too long, not really a great story. i will try to sum up quickly: some kind of entity, a huge entity i might add, is killing things.....something like that. klingons are going in there and getting killed, but klingons should be killed, so who cares?
so kirk and company decide to investigate. they play nice, so the thingy thing doesn't kill them. they finally get to the center of this huge entity thingy.....and land. turns out......don't read if you don't want to know......what's powering this huge entity thingy is a space probe that humans sent out from earth years ago.
it travelled around the universe, gaining POWER and KNOWLEDGE, and was able to create these great special effects all around itself. i guess what is more important is that it had gained, like, an awareness about itself. it wanted to know who its creator was. it wanted to meet its CREATOR.
and everyone is going 'whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?'
back up a bit. before the crew landed on the thingy, the thingy sent a representative to talk to them. it was like a holographic thingy, in the form of a bald babe, who in real life is now dead. this holographic, bald, thingy thing was awesome - she could walk through walls and stuff, but she couldn't speak proper english.
but she was good looking, so it didn't matter - everyone was going 'wowowowowwowowowow'.
anyway, so they land, they get to the center of this thingy, and find this contraption. and it looks oddly familiar. up to this point everyone has been calling it v'ger.
kirk, or someone, walks up to the thing, and finds dirt and grime and stuff on this thingy (can dirt and grime and stuff exist in space?) and he wipes away some dirt and grime to find........
don't read further.........that it says voyager................ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.........it's not v'ger, it's voyager, a space probe launched by humans a bizillion years ago......actually in our time.
anyway.....aaahhhhhhhhhhhha...........they realize that a voyager probe from earth has now become sort of like, aware, like your dog or cat will never do..........and that it wants to meet its CREATOR........whatttttttttttttttttttttttttt?.....which, by the way, is you and me.
we....are.....the.....CREATORS! like kirk would say.
anyway, so....because that guy from seventh heaven, that collins guy, is so horny, he agrees to MATE with the bald babe thingy thing so that it can meet its creator. wow, good thing, we didn't have another plan!
so they mate, not like you and i know it, sort of like a special effects sex scene mating thingy - and all is well after that. maybe this movie belongs on the bottom of the list.
6. star trek: first contact. i'm starting to think i don't like star trek movies so much anymore. this is like therapy for me, and i can finally rid myself of my star trek obssession (as if i want to do that!).
again, this one is here because it's better than what's left. the borg are in this one - the borg are supposed to be scary, but they are not. they were cool when we first saw them, way back when....but, now, they are just stupid.
you can walk amongst them as long as you don't cause trouble! what kind of bad guy is that?
borg, thinking to himself/herself: i am a borg, i have no brain, i am covered in steel and have all these cool killing attachments on me.......so why is it that i just basically stand around looking stupid? and why is that i don't actually kill anything with my cool killing attachments? oh.....hold on...i think it's because i am a sad star trek baddie! yeah.....that's it!
they were cool, like i said, when we first met them, but they turned into something less scary than that stoop-id doll in 'child's play'.
ok, stop meeeeeeee!
7. star trek: the search for spock. i had to go back to this one (not because i wanted to). spock died in the movie before this, so of course they had to bring him back, and they do in this one. how does that sound? yes, as boring as it sounds. the genesis project brought spock back from the dead. he was re-born on this planet, and kirk and crew find him down there as a boy - don't ask!
it was geeky. christopher lloyd, who we loved in 'taxi' and the 'back to the future' movies was in this one, in really bad make-up and reading really bad lines.
lloyd and kirk have a 'fight to the death' thing going on' - geez, i wonder who is going to win? - apparently, for this fight scene, the rocks around these two guys were supposed to go up and down - but they didn't work right - so they don't go up and down.
lloyd dies, kirk looks up, and sees whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? the enterprise disintegrating. YES! the enterprise is dead - which, allows the guys to steal that klingon bird of prey, so that they can fly around in that for the next movie. yeah!
8. star trek: nemesis. ok. if you are still with me at this point, i thank you. i'm barely here. even though, i will still watch these movies..............how sad is that? hey, maybe i won't. how happy is that?
nemesis. did poorly at the box office. do we need someone who can actually come up with some interesting ideas? i think so.
quickly: earlier, the romulans had picard cloned. now his clone is back to reek havoc on the crew - to do bad things. so picard meets his clone, and the bad guy has this really awesome weapon that can wipe out an entire thingy in a few thingy minutes.
the part when picard and data escape from the clone guy's ship was kind of cool. picard had to pilot this clone thingy ship through the corridors of the clone guy's ship. and it was pretty handy that data could understand the controls of this alien ship, or they weren't going anywhere.
DON'T READ PAST HERE!
this movie is memorable really only for the reason that DATA DIES IN IT! sorry, data can't die. you have to be human to die................dont' you?
data sacrifices himself for the crew - the bad guy's ship blows up real good at the end. and really, data doesn't really die - or at least, he is not gone forever, because at the beginning of the movie, the crew finds all these parts of an android on this planet. turns out it is B4 - get it? before data. this android was built by data's creator before he created data. but he is a lot dumber than data.
at the end, data is gone, but B4 stays with the crew, so it's like data is still around.
9. star trek: insurrection - ? this movie is pretty forgettable. i think it has something to do with this race of bad guys who find that there are healing properties on this certain planet, which makes them younger. problem is, there are inhabitants living there. so the bad guys are going to get rid of the inhabitants, and the enterprise crew must stop them.
blah! there are a couple of cool parts though. at the beginning, data goes AWOL - don't remember why, and takes off in a shuttle. so picard makes chase and they manage to latch onto data's shuttle and bring him down. another funnyish part was when data fell into deep water. he simply walked back to shore walking along the bottom - he doesn't have to breathe.
later we learn that won't happen again because data can now change himself into some sort of flotation device. yay!
10. Star Trek: the final frontier - worst star trek movie. spock's half brother sybok hijacks the enterprise because he wants to go meet God - he has the co-ordinates! blah blah blah.
they do in fact meet up with this 'entity' and sybok believes it is God, but it is not very friendly, and threatens harm or death or something, so that's how the crew knows it can't be God. what a waste.
there you go. you still there? me? i just fell asleep.
this flight tonight....
looking out my window on a flight through north ontario, canada, somewhere near lake superior; late '80s.into the fire.....
"time is the fire in which we burn" - soran, star trek: generations; i read that the main reason that malcolm mcdowall took the part in that movie was because he gets to kill captain kirk....ooops, did i spoil the ending for you?don't you love it when actors/actresses say stuff like that? just say it, 'the main reason i took this part was for the money'. actually, eddie murphy did say that once, when asked why he did 'the haunted mansion'. he basically said they put a $15 million cheque in front of his face, so he took it.
i also read that the writers of star trek: generations now wish they hadn't killed kirk off; doesn't matter, now he's on boston legal; you can't kill kirk!
oh, this fire was on manitoulin island, ontario. manitoulin island is the largest freshwater island in the world, something like that, near sudbury, ontario.
highway casualities.....
one that didn't make it; after a storm, highway 17 to thunder bay, ontario; late '80s.Saturday, May 12, 2007
cats vs. dogs.....
i'm new to the blog thing, but i have noticed a lot of people put their pets on these things. a lot of people like cats, and a lot of people like dogs. and i see a lot of people who love cats say cats are better than dogs, and vice versa.
i am trying to take a neutral stance here, but it's hard, because.................don't look.................i like cats.
let's try to step back for a second and look at this objectively (from my viewpoint anyway).
the good about dogs:
1. they are friendly (all the time);
2. they are loyal (all the time);
3. they will defend you and kill people who threaten you (all the time).
that's all i can think of. i'm sure i am missing some things.
the bad about dogs:
1. they can be too big for the house or car (a cat is never too big for anything);
2. you have to walk them, even if you don't feel like it (which is good in a way, walking is good);
3. you have to pick up their poop;
4. they can be too loud
5. they can scare the average person;
6. they can smell really bad;
7. you have to bathe them.
that's all i can think of.
the good about cats:
1. they are friendly (when they feel like it);
2. they can be loyal (when they feel like it);
3. you don't have to really worry about them (they are more independent than dogs);
4. you don't have to bathe them;
5. you don't have to pick up their poop off the street (they are smart enough to use the cat litter);
6. they can't kill you (much like many breeds of dogs; a pit bull will rip your face off just for looking the wrong way).
cats and dogs are both awesome (talk about staying neutral). people have preferences. i prefer cats though, i don't have to take them out. cats can go out by themselves, which is pretty cool. if you let a dog out, he/she may not come back.
i like an animal that knows where it is supposed to go to the bathroom, and can do it in the house.
hear this - both cats and dogs lick themselves in places that disgust us - how do you choose?
i am trying to take a neutral stance here, but it's hard, because.................don't look.................i like cats.
let's try to step back for a second and look at this objectively (from my viewpoint anyway).
the good about dogs:
1. they are friendly (all the time);
2. they are loyal (all the time);
3. they will defend you and kill people who threaten you (all the time).
that's all i can think of. i'm sure i am missing some things.
the bad about dogs:
1. they can be too big for the house or car (a cat is never too big for anything);
2. you have to walk them, even if you don't feel like it (which is good in a way, walking is good);
3. you have to pick up their poop;
4. they can be too loud
5. they can scare the average person;
6. they can smell really bad;
7. you have to bathe them.
that's all i can think of.
the good about cats:
1. they are friendly (when they feel like it);
2. they can be loyal (when they feel like it);
3. you don't have to really worry about them (they are more independent than dogs);
4. you don't have to bathe them;
5. you don't have to pick up their poop off the street (they are smart enough to use the cat litter);
6. they can't kill you (much like many breeds of dogs; a pit bull will rip your face off just for looking the wrong way).
cats and dogs are both awesome (talk about staying neutral). people have preferences. i prefer cats though, i don't have to take them out. cats can go out by themselves, which is pretty cool. if you let a dog out, he/she may not come back.
i like an animal that knows where it is supposed to go to the bathroom, and can do it in the house.
hear this - both cats and dogs lick themselves in places that disgust us - how do you choose?
'toopid stuff
some stuff is just stupid. i realize advertising has to go that extra mile to sell product, but still.
just saw a labatt beer commerical. the guy is standing there and can't decide what kind of beer he wants. the 24s come rolling out of the back, and he just stands there and watches. the cases of beer roll past him and fall off the end onto the floor - and of course break.
the cases aren't just rolling, this beer store has like a conveyor belt thingy that moves. when is the last time you saw a conveyor belt at the beer store?
i live in sudbury, ontario, canada, they must have them everywhere else.
the other thing was tonight's episode of Robson Arms. this is minor, but still. two old women decide they are going to die together, so they turn on the gas on the stove, then sit down to die.
when is the last time you saw a gas stove? i realize i live in a small city. are these things common everywhere except where i live?
just saw a labatt beer commerical. the guy is standing there and can't decide what kind of beer he wants. the 24s come rolling out of the back, and he just stands there and watches. the cases of beer roll past him and fall off the end onto the floor - and of course break.
the cases aren't just rolling, this beer store has like a conveyor belt thingy that moves. when is the last time you saw a conveyor belt at the beer store?
i live in sudbury, ontario, canada, they must have them everywhere else.
the other thing was tonight's episode of Robson Arms. this is minor, but still. two old women decide they are going to die together, so they turn on the gas on the stove, then sit down to die.
when is the last time you saw a gas stove? i realize i live in a small city. are these things common everywhere except where i live?
'nother thing that bothers me....
yes, it's how much people complain about tom cruise and katie holmes. the whole purpose is for people to buy the tabloids, and to tune into crappy entertainment shows. and it's working.
they are saying how their baby is in trouble, whatever.....do you know how many other babies are in a place a lot worse than theirs? there is a baby, right now, being neglected, crying, while his/her parents are doing crack in the other room; there is a baby being struck right now by his/her parent; there is a child starving to death right now; oh...guess what? a baby just died somewhere.
just because tom may be a little weird, and believes in this scientology stuff, doesn't make him a bad parent. and katie, well....everyone is saying, 'get away from tom'. well.....maybe she loves him! oh my god, what a strange concept!
how would you like your life to be analyzed? is there anything you wouldn't want to see on the front page? i understand the concept of selling tabloids, but sometimes it all becomes a bit much.
hopefully they love each other; as long as they are not abusing their children, let them do what they want.
sure, scientology sounds really weird, but unless you have a legitimate reason to take his children away from him - better yet, unless you can prove that their baby is going to grow up to become an evil alien entity and take over the world - shut up!
they are saying how their baby is in trouble, whatever.....do you know how many other babies are in a place a lot worse than theirs? there is a baby, right now, being neglected, crying, while his/her parents are doing crack in the other room; there is a baby being struck right now by his/her parent; there is a child starving to death right now; oh...guess what? a baby just died somewhere.
just because tom may be a little weird, and believes in this scientology stuff, doesn't make him a bad parent. and katie, well....everyone is saying, 'get away from tom'. well.....maybe she loves him! oh my god, what a strange concept!
how would you like your life to be analyzed? is there anything you wouldn't want to see on the front page? i understand the concept of selling tabloids, but sometimes it all becomes a bit much.
hopefully they love each other; as long as they are not abusing their children, let them do what they want.
sure, scientology sounds really weird, but unless you have a legitimate reason to take his children away from him - better yet, unless you can prove that their baby is going to grow up to become an evil alien entity and take over the world - shut up!
God save the Queen.....
the Queen Mary is permanently docked in san fransisco. my parents spent two nights aboard in the '70s. here's a shot on the bridge. closest i'm going to get to the Titanic.
Monklands High School
this used to be the high school i went to in montreal, quebec, '70s. it is now a senior citizens' home. heard a rumour that frank marino from mahogany rush went there, but no proof yet.
My first hockey game.....
not a very good shot, but a memory nonetheless. that's ken dryden in net for montreal; '70s.in the still of the night.....
this would have been my favourite concert shot if it weren't blurry; whitesnake, toronto, ontario, '03.rock you like a hurricane.....
my favourite concert shot, klause meine, scorpions, toronto, ontario, '03.
the burnt remains.....
we were driving to a wedding in thunder bay, ontario, '93, when we spotted a smoking car on the side of the road. when we stopped, there was only smoke coming from under the hood. this is what was left.On guard.....
i sleep while Mozart keeps guard. i have the crutches because i got hit by a car, montreal, '70s. the accident broke my femur, tibia and fibula, and i had to wear a body cast for several months. whatta cat!clarify this for me....
a lot of americans obviously hate george bush. but didn't the majority of americans elect him? twice?
i don't get it.
i don't get it.
when will we hear the last?
just thought of adding things that bug me to the blog. first one, axl rose. not a guns 'n' roses fan, although some of their tunes were catching. but this guy was/is just irritating. from the way he dressed to the way he moved and to the way he sang....
and that 'aye aye aye' thing he did. yikes! plus, he's been working on his new album for like 20 years now. he can't even get through a concert apparently. and having a guitar player called buckethead, inexcusable.
and that 'aye aye aye' thing he did. yikes! plus, he's been working on his new album for like 20 years now. he can't even get through a concert apparently. and having a guitar player called buckethead, inexcusable.
nice.....
deep purple....earlyish years.....before the grey hair and before the fighting.....sorry, the fighting was always there, part of the contract, always there, like the plague or something.....rock and roll wall of fame....
two deep purples tees, rock and roll jean jacket, purple poster, boston jersy, purple calendar....a public service announcement....
this is your brain......no it's not, it's a bleedin' fried egg man! photo by me.
come on baby light my fire....
i don't know why this guy had scattered fires on his property....there MUST have been a reason....where have all the flowers gone?
some Canadian National Railway equipment - old, discarded, alone, cold.......
cash your cheques boys....
the '83 version of black sabbath: from left: geezer butler, toni iommi, bev bevan and ian gillan. 'kay, shoot's over, let's head to the pub.fool for your lovin'.....
this from an earlier whitenake album....before the big hair days and the cute john sykes days.actually, this version was three-sixths deep purple and three-sixths whitesnake. singer coverdale, keyboardist jon lord and drummer ian paice played together in deep purple. the new guys were those two guitar players and that bass player.
every night in my dreams.....
the titanic. a story that will continue to enthrall us for ever. even though leonardo and kate didn't really exist. i will never understand how we could strive to achieve something so grand, yet fail so enormously.
what is that?
for you right-handed peoples.....this is a left-handed check mark. you write with your right hand, your check mark goes up and to the right.....you write with your left hand, your check mark goes up and to the left.....if my check mark started from the right, then went up, and then, to the right, that would mean.....a tumour.
poetry in motion.....well, not at this moment....
this IS poetry in motion. sure, it's smoke, steel, machinery, a waste of taxpayers' money, pollution, and so on.....but it is also: heaven, earth, humans, hope, mankind, reaching for the stars.....
it's heaven and hell......
this is an unused sabbath concert ticket. my mom kept it from me because i had a party whilst she and dad were away, after i promised i wouldn't have a party. regardless, i went.but i still have an unused sabbath ticket - is that worth anything?
a pink, oval thing.....
quick story: the ocean liner queen mary, ended its career and wound up being docked in san fransisco, california. my parents visited, and ended up staying two nights on the ship; this during the '70s.my mom bought this little soap holder thingy. do you remember that x-files episode that took place on an ocean liner? it was filmed on the queen mary, in san fran.
unfortunately, this is as close as i am going to get to the Titanic (unless i jump off a ship in the north of the atlantic ocean and float to the bottom).
wango, tango.......
ted nugent, toronto, ontario, 'aug. '04 - with deep purple and lynyrd skynryd. listened to nugent during the late '70s, early '80s. he's kind of cool, but i think there are a lot of people who don't like him because of his stance on weapons and hunting.i didn't go to see him hunt or shoot, i went to listen to him play guitar....i think american idol should do a nugent week.
the dudes.....
the original seven....and yes they do look like very cheesy in those outfits. but they worked.front, from left: wally shirra (deceased), scott carpenter, john glenn, don't know (i should); back row: alan shephard (first american to orbit the earth, also walked on the moon), gus grissom (deceased), and gordon cooper (deceased).
rock on dudes.
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