July 31st, 2003

I entered these 8 "photos" of mine in the Exibition Photo Contest. The Saskatoon EX runs August 5th - 10th so if you are there go to HALL B and VOTE FOR RYAN JACKSON!

If I win I'll totally give you something for voting for me...totally...

July 30th, 2003

You can finally listen to the 6 new Metallica CD Intros

July 28th, 2003

Can't say I've ever been a "fan" of Metallica. Not to say I don't like them, but for some strange reason, despite the fact that every time I heave heard them I've liked them, I have never bought or even listened to a whole Metallica CD. Of course I have heard Enter Sandman, but that is the only Metallica song I could name.

When I saw that "WOW there is a new Metallica CD out" I was weary as always because "all bands sell out and sound like crap eventually". I figured their last album (having not even heard it) sounded lame so this must be worse.

Still I asked one of my friends at Future Shop if the new CD St.Anger was any good. Matt said that there had been mixed feelings from customers about the CD. Andrew told me that a customer returned the CD "because it sucked". I asked if that was allowed and he said no, but the customer made such a fuss and got the manager involved so they actually returned an opened CD. (The asshole probably burned it first.)

ANYWAYS! I asked why the customers didn't seem to like it and Matt said that it was because "it sounded like their old Master of Puppets stuff". I immediately went to the headphones and listened to the CD. I am always amazed when a band goes "back to their old stuff" so I gave it a listen. I was hooked! The CD player only let you listen to the first 30 seconds of each track but I was so impressed with the Intros that I bought the CD completely based on first impression.

If you want to hear the same Intros I did listen to THIS sound clip I made.If you like what you hear, read on. Otherwise go look at this picture of an old mans ASS.

Now this CD has been out for a while now, but I didn't know about it till a week ago when I bought it. Like I said it sounds like "their older stuff" which I really like (perhaps the reason I wasn't a "fan" of Metallica was because their latest stuff didn't appeal to me).

The coolest thing I think about it (which is what sparked this rant-eview ) is that the CD comes with a DVD which is the video of the band playing during the recording of the CD.

The Album (named St.Anger) was recorded in a "room" with 3 camera guys filming the band playing. Rather than the typical super fancy sound stage with soundproof booths, headphones, and mic screens, the album is Metallica "just playing" (or "jamming" I guess you could say).

It sounds like they would if they were playing live (without the screaming crowd or echo) and I really like that. You can even hear the lead singer James Hetfield ( breathing on the mic which is unheard of with major label recordings. The concept of a huge band trying to sound like they are being recorded in someone's basement is thrilling to me. (or maybe I'm just too easily exited)

Watching the DVD, there is the exact same Audio but you can see how much energy the band has when they play. I watched the DVD first and it helped give a "face" to the music, which made listening to the CD more enjoyable.

Now hopefully as you read this you are listening to the sound clip I made (if not click above you lazy shit). Being a fan of more hardcore-metal-fastpunk-etc I am a huge fan of the guitar and drums on this album. I was VERY surprised at the originality and catchy'ness of each song (once again I was expecting the Album to suck and got quite the opposite).

The Intros "sound like their old stuff" and have a Slayer intensity (double kick drum, head banding sound) to them which is why I bought the CD. Lyrically the album is "what I would expect from Metallica" having not really known their music that much anyways. Some tracks just have the typical "mindless rock" lyrics ( "shoot me again I ain't dead yet…" ) but for the most part the music and fact that the James Hetfield has an awesome voice makes up for any downfall in the CD.

Each track is 6 to 9 minutes long with a total playing time of over 75 minutes in 11 tracks. All this with a DVD packaged in for $14.99 you can't go wrong, and Hey, even if you don't like the rest of the songs after the intros think about how most punk songs are only 2 mins. So by the time the intro is over you can skip to the next track your still better off than most punk albums…

I guess if you’re a "fan" you will have already bought the CD. If your like me and you like what you hear with the intros go buy a real CD for once and make it the new Metallica CD (Fuck I sound like I'm being payed here don't I! …. Maybe I'll just feel better about "buying" a CD rather then burning it if I can get other people to buy it too…)

July 25th, 2003

Along with GeorgeStock you should also somehow manage to go to:

You could be Ultra (yes Ultra) cool and do GeorgeStock Saturday and Wakeboarding Sunday.

Thats what I would do..... alas...

July 24th, 2003

I finally did it.  On August 18th it will be my 4 year anniversary of "workin' for the Clown" and my last day.

McDonalds, though not a very prestigious job, certainly was fun to work at. Everyone was the same age as me, I made over 100 friends, and the hours were always super flexible. I would certainly want my children to work (at a place like) McDonalds because it was a really good job to have while in school, but 4 years is enough and I have 3 jobs right now so goodbye McDonalds!

If you haven't heard about it yet GO TO GEORGE STOCK!

go to http://www.gstock.vze.com/ for more info.  Basically on Saturday drive 20 mins out on the South Highway to Regina and you'll see signs.  It is 16 bands for $8 = 50cents a band and they are all really good local (and one non local) bands. Check out the website for more info and go have a good time!

As for me. I leave on a plane to go back up North for a week in 8 hours so I'm going to bed!  If you have a digital (or film+scanner) camera take lots of pictures and send them to me! (I'll post them with your super cool name beside them!)

July 23rd, 2003

Last night I went and saw Bowling for Columbine and it absolutely blew me away.  I started an applause at the end of it because it was so amazing and thought provoking. It was the first movie I have seen in way too long that I walked out of happy. Of course it is more of a documentary than a movie but if you haven't seen this movie GO SEE IT.  It is playing at Rainbow Cinemas @ 9:30pm all week for only $3.    It hasn't been released on video yet so this is your only way to see it and for $3 its cheaper than renting so GO GO GO!  Call some friends and see it. You wont be disappointed.

If you have or haven't seen it check out Michael Moore's website http://www.michaelmoore.com/   it has some interesting articles etc.

That's all I have to say about that.

July 22nd, 2003

I know what your wondering. What was that "Super Secret Basement Show" I saw on the threeohsix calendar for Monday night?   Well I wondered the same and then I found out it was two bands playing in "the setaside house basement".  There were only two bands and they were both from out of town (one was from Calgary). It was a pretty cool little "super secret show" in a basement. Bringing my # of shows I've seen in a basement to two!

The Pictures of The Buzzing Bees and Fallen Year are in the bands section as well all of the "organized" pictures of the Friday night show are in the bands section and I edited all the pictures to make them look not crappy so go look at them all again for the first time!

One last thing. I am at 98 bands on my site now (and this site isn't even a year old yet....) so the question is "who will be my 100th band" ?

July 21st, 2003

So Friday night after the show I get home, throw up the "jumble" of pictures and crawl into bed. .... what's this?....I feel my foot twitching...but I'm not moving my foot....  I turn on the light and I see a freaking mouse running between my feet!!!  THERE IS A MOUSE IN MY BED!!! AHHHHH!!!  I run upstairs, get a trap and some rat poison and set them in my room then sleep upstairs in my brothers' bed (he's in BC for the summer).

From then on I say "I'm not sleeping in my room till I find a dead mouse!"  .... well.... my wish came true.  I get home from work yesterday and throw my bag on my bed. An hour later I take the bag off and lift up the covers and low and behold there is a little squished mouse under my sheets!  EWWWWW!    I guess it was hiding there and I squished it with my bag.  Needless to say I washed all my sheets and mattress, as well I am not sleeping in my room till I vacuum and clean EVERYTHING in my room.

It is amazing how something so small and harmless can be so TERRIFYING!!!

Back to Business. The videos from Friday night can be seen HERE so if you want to see Adam get shocked all over again or see the videos with TERRIBLE sound then check it out!    The "organized" pictures will come tomorrow. (Betcha' can't wait!)

July 19th, 2003

If your dying to see all the pictures right now from the show I have them in an unorganized JUMBLE.   I'll organize them and post the dozen videos I took tomorrow.

Sleep now.

July 18th, 2003

I just got back from up North OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH its soooooo good to be home!

There are TWO yes count 'em TWO SHOWS TONIGHT!

#1

Though I haven't ranted about it yet threeohsix has finally sold out and is now going to become a "real web magazine" and a production company which is actually a good thing because the money made putting on shows will go back into putting on big shows so now rather than a band skipping Saskatoon and going just to Regina we can be like "we guarantee you this much money if you play in Saskatoon".  What does this all mean? --> GO TO THE SHOW!!!

#2.

If your super cool like me you will go to both because the Amigo's show wont start till 11:30 - midnight'ish so see you there!

July 17th, 2003

If you want to see some more pictures of the lake click HERE otherwise read on and wonder why I think about this stuff....

Today's thoughts continue on about what I said a couple weeks ago about Causality.

Remember when I talked about how I think if I went to the Baseball game I would have changed the order of events and that guy wouldn't have been hit in the face with the baseball. (See June ramblings *bottom).

Remember I said how Terminator 3 was disappointing but the ending made me think.

Ok, so first off. Am I selfish for believing that I could have prevented something from happening by being there? The way I was thinking was that everything that occurs in life is a fragile order of events that is extremely easily altered and the future (or projected order of events) is constantly changing as we change our minds on what we are going to do.

Here are two things to think about that would be similar to what the baseball game I didn't go to.

(If you didn't read what I said then in a testishell: A guy got hit in the face with a baseball at a game I had decided to not play in. I wondered if I had gone to the baseball game would my presence had altered the chain of events and the guy have not been hit)

If you remember your grade 10 history a Serbian nationalists shot The Archduke of Austria-Hungary in "the shot heard round the world" back in June 1914 and that is said to be the spark that started the first world war which then lead to the second world war.

Now let’s create a character. Let’s call him Bill. Let’s say Bill was usually a punctual guy and always liked to get to events on time. Bill was going to be at the PARADE that The Archduke was going to be in but something happened. (Let's say he stopped to tighten his shoes) and because of that he missed being able to stand in a good position to see The Archduke of Austria-Hungary.

Now instead of Bill being in that good viewing position, The Serbian nationalists got the good spot, which allowed him to be close enough to shoot The Archduke of Austria-Hungary and be "the shot heard round the world".

So now the question: Was "the shot heard round the world" fragile enough to be affected by Bill not tightening his shoelaces? Let's say Bill hadn't stopped and he had got the good viewing spot and The Serbian nationalists was forced to stand in a different spot which prevented him from being able to shoot The Archduke of Austria-Hungary. The Serbian nationalists was on a mission and still may have tried to jump out and shoot The Archduke of Austria-Hungary but maybe someone else may have jumped in the way or grabbed the gun away from him and then The Serbian nationalists would have gone to jail and it never would have happened.

Hooray for Bill! He stopped the First (and Second) World War from happening! Did he know it?

Does the war never happen? Or is the War, the "big thing" INEVITABLE? If the "shot heard round the world" hadn't of sparked the war would something else have later? Just like with the Terminator movie. Judgment day was never stopped, it was just postponed because it was inevitable. Do you think the events leading to the First World War were fragile? Or would it have happened no matter what the events, just postponed. There are a million essays about "the powder keg of Europe" and how Europe was just waiting to go to war and just needed a spark. So even though the war may have still happened later it was still postponed which would completely change history because something else would have started it. A shoelace did it all.

Next example. Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated J.F.K. with a rifle from the window of a warehouse. Now lets say Bill's grandson, Bill Junior had stopped to tighten his shoe and therefore lost the good viewing spot he wanted so instead he decided to go up inside the warehouse to get a better view of the president. Lee Harvey Oswald hears Bill Junior coming so he runs away and now Hooray for Bill Junior! He stopped J.F.K. from being assassinated!

Or did he? Lee Harvey Oswald once again was on a mission. He was capable of doing it before, so maybe he would have just waited till the next parade and succeeded then. Or maybe Bill Junior would have kicked Lee's ass, called the police and stopped it all together.

So now am I still selfish for thinking I would have prevented that guy from being hit in the face with the baseball? We don't realize what effect we have on peoples lives even though they don't notice it. Then again, do we effect people's lives? Or is everything that happens bound to happen inevitably? Am I a hero just like Bill?  ...... or should I just shut up because I have no idea what I am talking about..... if you read this far then your stupid enough to have read it so you can't say anything. HA!

June 15th, 2003

If you want to see some pictures I took here up North at my summer job click HERE. .
I have a rant...but due to some historical inacuracies it must be rewritten so pictures is all you get (and probably care about anyways)

Oh yeah, listen to HOT HOT HEAT ! I just started listening to them yesterday and I'm hooked so you should be too!

June 14th, 2003

Well I had a rant and pictures that I took of the lake up here that I was going to upload but they were on a floppy disk and surprise surprise the disk is corrupted. It's hard to believe that floppy disks were once the main form of file transfer and now I wouldn't trust any data on them.
Enough nerd talk. I'll update at noon.

June 13th, 2003

Work is life

Whenever I talk to an older person who has been working two or three times longer than I have been alive it really puts my life into perspective.

I have worked 5 different jobs in my 20-year life so far. I still work at 3 of them, but I will be quitting good 'ol McDonalds in August so I can focus on school and my summer job ends in August too just leaving me with my Hewlett Packard Rep job on the weekends.

Whenever you ask a person "what they have done" in their life they always list off the jobs they have worked. "I worked at this place for 10 years and then I did this for 4 years and now I've been at this job for the last 8". We spend a 1/4 of our life working (40hrs/week divided by 168hrs/week) and yet when people think quickly back on their lives "what they have done" is their jobs.

No one ever says "I went to the lake 96 times, Disneyland 4 times, and Mexico and Hawaii twice" or "I met 12856 people, made love to 4 different woman, married one, and have known 627 different phone numbers".

Though most of you reading this aren't "old" yet, think about what you would say, "you have done" in your life not counting work.

Where have you lived, travelled, been? Who have you met, befriended, seen? What is the most important thing you have done? How many people in your life have you helped in any way?

One of the best things I ever read was from "Being Calvin" by Casper Neurotic:

"If you life was a book, would you bother reading it?"

June 12, 2003

Well if your wondering why I haven't updated in a while its because I'm back up North again for my summer job. However on the bright side I have tons of time to write and take pictures so I'll be updating lots this week (I already have three rants on the go)...and here is one.

I am insulted a lot by movies and advertisements that think I am an idiot. For example the picture above illustrates how to use the page lifter AND explains in words how to put your finger in a hole and lift! Why bother wasting ink explaining how to do something that is obvious?

I would hope that if you are capable of reading the instructions for something as simple as that you are capable of figuring things out!

I guess this also comes to the idea of "reading the manual". How often have you jumped to "some assembly required" without reading the instructions? In the case where there may be confusion on how to do something then instructions are useful and should be provided but when something is blatantly obvious in how to do it then why waste ink and time printing instructions?

Perhaps companies have to do it to cover their own ass in case someone gets hurt.

What really bothers me though is movies where the dialogue leaves nothing to the imagination. Like when the characters completely explain everything in the movie to the point where I am insulted because it seems they think I can't figure anything out. I think the best movies are the ones that after you watch them you can discuss with your friends what you got out of it and what your interpretation is of what happened and what was said. (Watch the movie K-PAX, it is about a guy who says he is an alien and the great thing is that even in the end you are still not sure because it is up to you to think about what happened and what was said)

Lately I haven't seen any movies in the theatres that do that (leave it up to us to figure things out). Maybe Hollywood thinks we're idiots, or maybe they have made us into idiots because of it.

.

July 9th, 2003

A sad day for men everywhere.

July 8th, 2003

So then the question begs to be asked.... was Terminator 3 worth my $9  ???

I just asked what should have been the last question first but in case you hate me and don't want to read my opinions on the new Terminator movie (or want to judge for yourself) then all you need to know is:

YES IT IS WORTH THE MONEY TO GO SEE IT IN THE SUPER EXPENSIVE THEATER.

Now two more questions come up:

#1 Why is it worth seeing at all?  #2 Why would there be any doubt?

To start. This is by far THE most action packed movie to date. There are only two parts in the movie where there isn’t stuff blowing up and that is because they are driving in the desert (but during one of the scenes Arnold’s battery starts leaking and so he throws it out the window and it blows up = you pretty much don’t get a break during the movie)

I spent the majority of the movie waiting for it to slow down actually. T3 certainly breaks from the tradition of introà problem à rising action à climax à resolution.

The movie just jumps right into it with you meeting the “old” John Conner and seeing he’s a bum and then the T-X comes in and starts killing everyone.

The action never stopped and as good as that is, it took a lot away from what I think could have been a better movie. There was 99% focus on action and special effects and it seems like they cut corners when it came to the actual “movie”.

The actors, directing, and dialogue were very disappointing. You would think if you’re spending $170 million on a movie you can invest in making the stuff in between the explosions worth while. To put it short T3 wasn’t anywhere near as serious as T2.  

There were many pointless attempts to make the audience laugh by doing parities of T2 which indeed were funny but took away from the seriousness of what was happening in the movie.

My next complaint was of the music. Now maybe it just wasn’t turned up enough, but in T2 the soundtrack and original score really added to the movie by adding suspense and appropriate effects.  None of the original T2 score was used except during the credits and once again that took away from the seriousness of the movie.

I guess you can say that a lot has changed in movies in the 12 years since the 1991 T2. It seems now the “block buster” movies are more about action and less about “action + movie”. Don’t get me wrong. I love action movies and Terminator 3 is certainly one of the best action movies to date, but I was expecting it to be done as well (if not better) than T2 and that just isn’t the case.

Several times during the movie you could pick out blatant advertising “plugs” like a Semi truck being pulled over with Xenadrine plastered all over it. This was an obvious plug and took away from the seriousness. Like I said, for $170 million I was expecting more of a “movie” and less of an “action-cash grab”.

Now after all of these complaints your probably wondering why I originally said T3 was worth seeing in theater. Well once again it is the most action packed movie to date (with the expense of the action taking away from what should have been a legacy). The story, though dry, does have some VERY unexpected twists and I’m not going to say anything but I was very surprised where the story went so I’m not going to bash the story itself, but I think the story could have been told a lot better with better acting and dialogue.

Would I go see it in the theater twice? No.  That is simply because there wasn’t anything more to the movie than action.   I’ll admit the ending did “make me think” but I didn’t leave the theater with a sense of satisfaction that I was hoping to get. I guess I was just setting my self up for disappointment by thinking it would be as awesome as T2, but then again, after seeing T2 wouldn’t you at least “hope” the sequel would measure up?   Go see the movie but don't be mad at me if your disapointed (hey you may want to go see it 5 times because it blew you away!)

As for me.... I think I’m going to go watch T2 again…..

July 7th, 2003

The weener'est dog I have ever seen!

July 6th, 2003

Well FINALLY all 217 pictures and 16 videos are in the BANDS section. Enjoy!   *NOTE: If the videos don't work then come back tomorrow and I will have fixed them.

My Photo Pass allowed me to take pictures of any band for the first two songs (after 2 songs they kicked all the photographers out because there were too many crowd surfers falling on us). I tried to get 1 min of video of each band too, but as usual the mic on my camera really sucks, but its better than nothing!  

This was by far the best Warped Tour for me. I got to be up close for every band and do what I love most --> Take pictures!

There were 6 other people with Photo Passes which made me feel special. I was able to go behind stage too, but there wasn't really anything back there but busses and sound equipment.

Tom also updated with his "experience" of Warped and the pictures from my trip are in the Friends section.

Sleep now....

July 5th, 2003

I haven't thumb nailed the pictures of Warped Tour 2003 yet but if you can't wait to see the pictures then just look at the FOLDERS.

Why haven't I thumb nailed them yet? Well I was out having too much fun at the Skuzz and then taking the Gnomes that Gordon stole out on the town. (Don't worry, we're returning them with the pictures of their ("adventure")

July 4th, 2003

Pictures of the "trip" are up.  Bands will come later tonight / tomorrow.

Enjoy!

July 4th, 2003

BEST WARPED TOUR ROAD TRIP EVER!!!!!

I have a BAJILION pictures (yes I filled up a GIG of memory cards!) of Warped Tour and our whole trip!

It is 5:00 AM. I just got home. We left Calgary at 9:30pm Thursday and drove all night and now I sleep, then it will take me 6 hours probably to update all of the pictures so if your reading this right now come back tonight and all of the freaking amazing pictures will be up!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....