More End of the Year stuff.. This type, it's a user-voted "Plug Awards". However, there doesn't' seem to be a lot of Can Con represented.. Other then the Arcade Fire. There was a ton of good can con records this, I hope next year the international indie community, stands up and takes a closer look at us.

http://www.plugawards.com/general_vote.php

More "Best Albums Of 2004", this time curiosity of my "Favorite Station Of 2004", KEXP. When I finally get my ass and pick my albums, I have a feeling many of them will be derived from this list. However, I still don't seen any Hayden, or Hidden Cameras, at least the Magnetic Fields charted.

http://www.kexp.org/programming/djtop10.asp

Christmas is two days away. I have been doing the "12 Days" for Stacey. Today, is day #10. Figuring at what to do for the first nine was a real challange, I think the last couple will be a walk in the park.

Well, the end of the year is near, and that marks the begin of the "Best of the year" lists. I've started to compile my own. I have about a 130 or so songs to sort through. I fashion of last year, I'll just ram them up, in no particular order. Any songs that were super good for whatever reason, I'll annotate in some fashion.

To start things off, WOXY has posted their 97 best. I agree with 2/3 of this list. However, a couple of my favorite records did not chart at all. "Let's bottle Bohemia" By the Thrills, "Elk Lake serenade" by Hayden and "In Between Evolution" by the Tragically Hip.

[woxy] 97 best of 2004

In other news, I'm back to the golden horseshoe for Christmas. I'll probably throw up a few recounts of air flight hell, or maybe some pictures of truffle making mania with Stacey.

Alnemosophy

Legendary Canadian author Pierre Berton died Tuesday. Oddly Enough, I had a conversation with Stacey a few days ago, on how I haven't yet read any of his books, but it was on my list to do. With his death, I believe it's more important then ever to recognize his accomplishments, and I will take the time to introduce myself to some of his works.

CBC as usual, has provided a nice article on him. I wonder what effect his death would of done for CBC's "The Greatest Canadian".

"CBC News: Author Pierre Berton dies"

While, I'm not sure if I agree with the point of "The Superficial", week by week, I'm drawn more to read it. While there are many sites that offer nipple slips and quasi-celebrity porn, none do it with the halirous star bashing editoral content. Even if the photo offend your sensibilties, the rants make this site worth visiting.

Here are few random qutoes:

"Based on the promos and my knowledge of Nick and Jessica's talent, I think it's safe to say that their Christmas Special is going to suck more balls than a Mexican prostitute. And in case you're unfamiliar with Mexican prostitutes, that's a whole lot of sucking. Maybe everybody will be so distracted by Nick's uglyass sweaters that they won't notice how terrible everything else is"

"I've got no problem with marriage sites in general, but this one just pisses me off with its pretentiousness. "Hey, I'm fat and I talk a lot and I'm sort of famous so everybody pay attention to me because I just got married. And give me your email address because you don't get enough spam. Mmm...Spam."

" A number of people have pointed out that the woman in the background appears to have urinated all over the carpet while walking backwards. Good job, old woman. Urinating in public places is neat."

"Sorry Kevin, but dressing like a hillbilly hobo isn't really considered "great style." Maybe if wife beaters and giant clown pants ever come into style then you'll be onto something, but until then maybe you should just chill the fuck out"

"In other news, Clay Aiken was recently awarded the "Biggest Lameass of American Idol" Award for being the Biggest Lameass of American Idol. It was a close call between him and and Ryan Seacrest, but Ryan was disqualified when it was pointed out that he already won the "Biggest Lameass of the Universe" Award."

"That's the kind of name you read about in story books about old cobblers and talking mice. All this time I figured Julia Roberts to be somewhat of a regular person but now I know the horrible truth. Just once I'd like a celebrity to not be completely insane."

"There's just nothing quite like a teenie-bopped out teenie-bop posing on a giant lollipop to make me want to get totally high on cocaine. I mean giant lollipops? It's like I'm already high"

"when I saw JoJo's first music video I figured she was at least 18. Color me surprised when I discovered that she was really just a 6-year old in a 14-year old costume pretending to be an 18-year old girl. Or...something like that."

Read more postings at "The Superficial - Because You're Ugly"

The Pardox of my brain. While a blog traditionaly a foroum for ones thoughts, opions, rantings and recouts of the day, my blog seems to be a mix-match diary of music, media, politics, ranting, and the odd truely personal moment. I'm sure a pyhcitrist would jump all over the fact i'd rather recount a funny pitchfork review, then spilt my brain and heart open to the mass-public. I know I could talk about so much. My recent trip back rock and roll trip back to Toronto. The Pixies and Hip concerts I have attended. I could rant about a family members birthday party, where it was an intresting and odd mix of current and past friends.. I could talk about George W and his canadian visit. Finally, I could rant chose of Tommy Douglas as the "Greastest Canadian". But I won't..

Gwen Stefani of No Doubt fame has a new solo record out. After only having the chance to hear the first single "What are you waiting for?", I had already decided that it was preety well a piece of trash. While sonically the track is catchy, however the lyrics are completly garbage.

"LOOK AT YOUR WATCH NOW!
YOU'RE STILL A SUPER HOT FEMALE!
YOU GOT YOUR MILLION DOLLAR CONTRACT!
AND THEY'RE ALL WAITING FOR YOUR HOT TRACK!"


Nothing annoys me more then a rock star whinning about the pressures of rock stardom. I think another great example of this is "Hollywood", probably the biggest piece of shit Maddona has put out in recent years.

"I lost my memory in Hollywood
I've had a million visions bad and good
There's something in the air in Hollywood
I tried to leave it but I never could

Shine your light now
This time it's got to be good
You get it right now yeah
Cause you're in Hollywood"

I can't find anything rewarding about lyrics that whine about the fact that celeberity has effected their lives. I'm so sorry Gwen, that you have a million dollar contract, and by-god you have to produce a hit album. That's almost like having a job, and having actually to work. And Maddonna, I'm so sorry that the pressures of being super-star in hollywood has finally effected you. Especailly, now that you ran away to Britian, and my gosh, merried a director. There is no better way to espcape the business, then by marrying a person that help build it. Maybe Guy Ritchie could direct a movie about the pressures of being a birtish directory trying to be taking serisouly in the american film industry. The soundtrack could feature a deut with with Gwen and Madonna singing about the pressures of having celberity marriage. Maybe It could star Nicole Kidman, and have a cameo with Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz.

After reading the pitchfork review, I guess Im not the only one who doesn't approve of the new Gwen album. I almost fell off my chair laughing at the attached snippet from the review.


Gwen Stefani: Love Angel Music Baby: Pitchfork Review: "Gwen Stefani
Love Angel Music Baby
[Interscope; 2004]
Rating: 5.1

Gwen Stefani should stick to making bum flaps. Not quite a skirt, not quite a dish rag, the Stefani bum flap dangles off the guts of our divorced aunts and 12-year-old mall-slut daughters, the ones who steal Livestrong bracelets and dry-hump public schoolkids in Pac Sun dressing rooms. Bum flaps are these people's stars and stripes. Not all of us want to salute this flag, but it exists, and it gives America something else to believe in-- and it's not nearly as expensive as a valium addiction or Kaplan SAT course.

As widely predicted, 35-year old singer/fashionista Stefani has temporarily given up No Doubt to fully embrace a high-pop lifestyle with nary a pierced tongue in-cheek. The metamorphosis began with her Eve and Dr. Dre collaboration on 2001's killer single 'Let Me Blow Ya Mind', and is completed here with her solo debut Love Angel Music Baby, a spineless, starfucked advertisement for her high-end clothing line"

Finally, links to complete lyrics for both songs.

"Hollywood", Madonna
"What are you waiting for?", Gwen Stefani

Okay, I'm going to have to investigate this posting a litte more.. Hopefully the CBC or the Globe will jump on this.
Pregnant without intercourse: Ad Contracts? Fuggedaboutit!

On a side note, I'm reading "Pregnant without Intercourse" quite often. I like the mix of Canadian politics and Rock and Roll.

Okay, this is sort of cool. Next summers blockbuster COULD be cool.. Willy Wonka, and the Dukes Of Hazzard, however, what the hell is with Jessica Simpson as Daisy ? I suppose she has the right "look", but a)can she act? I mean this a is comedy, she's with Knoxville and Seann William Scott, not exact students of Shakespeare themselves. However.. At least they have ACTED before. And I'm talking a some thing a little more substantial then her marriage with Nick. Perhaps before she takes on the challenging Daisy Duke roll, she could do warm-up movie by doing a with the Rock. At least then she's be on the same playing field as Scott and Knoxville.
b)Okay, and now on to the more important topic. DAISY IS BRUNETTE.. What the hell is a blonde hair Daisy? I trust the Broken lizard boys have watched a few episodes.. They should know this. Get this girl a dye job. Quickly.

Enough of the rant. Here is some Dukes pics scooped of FilmForce.
JoBlo.com Movie News: 1st Dukes pics online

I really have to start writing something a little more personal and meaty then Dukes of Hazzard rants. Maybe After watching "The Sponge Bob Squarepants Movie" this weekend, I'll be in a better mood to write a personal, introspective blog. Or maybe I'll go golfing.

I don't really think much about the pot debate. Because I'm not involved with it and not effected directly, which ever way it goes, I never really gave it a ton of thought. I've heard Pros and cons on both sides, and each have valid points. However, after reading this Macleans article, as Canadians, we should re-visit this issue again.. Why is it that are laws have not changed, because of the threat of American trade disruptions? I know they are largest trading partner, but we have the right to deal with based on our own canadian morality, just as they have the right to refuse trade based on their American morality. However, according to this article, "The amount of marijuana seized at the Mexican-U.S. border is more than 100 times greater than the amount caught heading south from Canada", it makes me deeply suspicious that there is deeper issues at bay.



"A case for Marijuana Inc.: Legalizing Canada's biggest cash crop is all about supply and demand" STEVE MAICH

It's been well covered in the media.. RIP ODB.

I'm suprised I just found out about this little "SP2" quirk now. It appears starting with SP2, Microsoft has started to limit the amount of simultaneous TCP connections to 10. Previously it was unlimited. I wonder if this is a backhanded attack on P2P. I assume, for every p2p connection, there is a TCP connection as well. Limiting the amount of available ports would inevitably hinder multi-sourced transfers.. A possible answer in why lately my torrent d/ls has been slower.

Anyways, somebody has posted a fix for it. I'm sure there is a ton of security risks involved with using a non-standard backported file.. I won't suggest this fix to any of my "uninformed" friends.
www.LvlLord.de - Tips, Tricks & Utilities - News

CBC News: George Stroumboulopoulos departs MuchMusic

I gave up watching much a couple year ago, but it seems like then end of another era at Much . Other then the odd guest appearances of Ed the Sock, the Odd Going coastal and Late Friday episodes of THE WEDGE, It MuchMusic has lost one of it's last redeeming qualities. It will be interesting to see how George digs his teeth into something a little deeper then the latest Britney rumor. While, I'd rather not was much more thought on Much, but my guesss is that the are going to replace George with some sort of santantized pseudopunk Asheele Simpson wannabe.

Here is a clip of George announcing his departure

Drat!, a final good point for Much, the Wedge is currently playing Pavement's amazing "Cut Your Hair".

I found a random Canadian blog concerning Remembrance Day. Catch my rant about honoring the tremendous sacrifices our WW vets made, but also recognizing the sacrifices faced by our modern day troops and their loved ones daily Pregnant without intercourse: Lest We Forget

FireFox 1.0 has finally been released. I've been using Firefox since about version .6 or so. At first Firefox was just a curiosity, I didn't the old Netscape like mozilla browser. It was big, and bulky and ugly. Firefox, was it's little brother a odd creature with a few quirks, however the slim, plugin design gave it a huge up swing. I was in control of what features my browser would have. And then, came the plugins. Adblock to be specifc. I was sold. From that point on in, Firefox is my first install on a new install. When faced in environments where IE is still the standard, I find myself hitting "CTR-T", in hopes a new tab, rather then a window would appear.
Firefox has grown into a mature well designed web browser. It is THE BROWSER to beat. Finally, with the release of 1.0, Firefox is ready for prime-time.


Firefox - Rediscover the web

Casey's Conjectures

I figure it out. I understand what happened. I know why the election results turned out the way they did. People across American. They were busy celebrating the Red Sox's Victory. They were too busy lamenting over the Lakers starting lineup:

"I turned on TNT last night to watch the Lakers inaugural game of the 2004 season against Denver, I actually had to look online to find the starting lineup of Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, Chris Mihm, Chucky Atkins and Caron Butler"

On the eve of the most important election in recent American history, the average Joe American was busy worrying his favorite NBA, rather the fate of his country, and the possible destruction of his freedoms.

Well. Americans voted. They voted for Bush. A lot of Americans are cheering! So am I. Really. Yeah!! A Vote for the right!! A vote for middle America! A vote for the troops. I'm sure the boys over in Iraq are thanking all you right voting Americans now. Really, I am sure they are. I was always under the presumption that Americans believed in freedom. Isn't that the "American Way?". On the issue of gay rights, somehow, taking away somebody's freedom, their RIGHT to love whoever they want to. I guess it's not a choose of freedom to merry the person that one loves. I guess that isn't an expression of freedom. Instead, they use their freedom to vote for a government that has lead a relentless assault on their personal freedoms and rights, while waving the flag, guns a' blazing and praying to Jesus. I guess I should of bought Haliburton stocks yesterday. I think they will be holding their value for at least another for years. George W. Bush, and middle America I congratulate you. You have guaranteed another four years of great angry punk music.

Yahoo! News - Conservatives Cheer Gay Marriage Bans

BBC Great John Peel Passed away on Monday (25 Oct 04). Living in Canada, I was never lucky enough to hear his show first hand, but it isn't hard to recognize his contributions to rock and roll. Mp3 blog, Music for Robots has a nice tribute and a link to John Peel's reported favorite song, the Undertones "Teenage Kicks"

music (for robots)

Well, I guess it's cool to be anti-bush. Following in the steps of "Fahrenheit 911", The rock against bush compilations and Greenday's "American Idiot", a new video by Eminem. Pitchfork has a review and a link to the video "Mosh"

Pitchfork: We Are The World

I hope all this Hollywood Anti-bush hype will encourage Americans to vote. I fear with all this hype, that Americans will think that the Kerry platform is Pro-Hollywood and disconnected from average voter. However, any effort to get the american public to get out and vote, and talk politics is a great thing.

Now if only Canada could encourage and maintain a youthful open exchange of politics and ideas. We could use some new dialogues and policies that connect with the average Canadian.

I don't know why I haven't linked this up yet.. Knoppix 3.7 Unofficial was leaked a couple weeks ago.
KNOPPIX Linux Live CD
Knoppix 3.7 is out ... sort of - Knoppix.net

While browsing through my daily news on My Yahoo, I found two articles that refocus my faith in world and proves the spirit of humanity.
Actually, I'd like to invite over the parties targeted in the articles and fix them a nice drink of drano and rusty razor blade icecubes. Perhaps feed them a chaser of pcb laced transformer oil.

Yahoo! News - Edmonton Woman Arrested for Porn Involving Son, 6
Yahoo! LAUNCH - News: Group Warns of Racist Music Label