New Camera and Nuit Blanche

So I bought a new camera and tested it out on Nuit Blanche a few weeks ago. Here are the results

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

So there is a new movie coming out soon, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It's based on the novel of the same name by Stephen Chbosky. It's pretty much a coming of age book, told by Charlie through a series of letters to an unknown person. I didn't get a chance to read the book growing up, although I though that it would be a good book for any teen-ager. When I did manage to read it, I thought that the story itself can take place in any city with any person in the lead.

I don't know what to think of this movie. I haven't seen it yet, but I'll give it the chance. It was, after all, directed by Chbosky. Another intriguing point of the movie will be Emma Watson, of Harry Potter fame, who will star as Sam, one of the main characters of the book, and friend to Charlie. It will be interesting to see if she can break out of the role that defined her life for the past few years. From at the very least of the trailer, she seems to hide her accent well, but any actor or actress worth their salt should be able to imitate multiple accents, even if your standard American audience can't tell a British accent from a Glaswegian accent (more than likely myself included, even though I'm Canadian, I'm just willing to admit it)

Allison Crowe Hallelujah

Another version of Hallelujah,
yes I am obsessed with this song, but Allison Crowe has a great voice

More Poetry?

OK, haven't been here in a while. I do have some stuff to say, but not yet. I do have some photos, but not yet. Here is some poetry instead.

Whenever I feel like 
I don’t have an answer 
Whenever I feel like 
There’s no one around 
I walk through the hills and 
I silently whisper 
All that I’m thinking 
Everything is a lie 

Never do I want to see 
What I was again 
Please let me cast away 
Everything that I once was 

I try to believe that 
Things will be better 
I try to believe that 
It will turn up alright 
At least I can sleep and 
At least I can wander 
Every night I turn it away 

Never do I want to see 
What I was again 
Please let me cast away 
Everything that I once was 
Sometimes it’s hard to see 
Just what I've done right here 
Sometimes it’s hard to see 
Just where that I have gone 
I see my reflection 
And it looks back at me 
I wonder when I have 
Become who I am

Poetry?

Sometimes I write. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not


 Because I can't keep running
 Because the more I change the more I stay the same
 Because there is something
 Because there is someone
 Because a million things can go wrong
 Because all we need is one thing to go right
 Because there is a chance
 Because I have nothing else
 Because I WILL CONTINUE!

The Return of the Masonic

So back in my younger days I used to visit The Masonic Lodge over in Streetsville, in Mississauga. It was a concert hall that local bands could play. Back in its heyday I used to see many different bands play there. Some bands made it big, like Billy Talent(when they were Pezz), Alexisonfire and illScarlett. Other bands, well we'll leave it at that. After a few years, The Masonic banned shows for due to excessive noise complaints, as well as drug use, and under age drinking. Not too long ago, The Masonic started to host shows again. Here are some shots from one of those shows

Burger King has a bacon sundae. OK, I do like bacon, but that is just weird. I have no clue if I will ever try it. Boing Boing

I first saw this video a while ago, never posted it now Enjoy

Protests in Quebec

There have been a rash of protests that have been taking place in Quebec in the past month or so. The first reason for these protests is because of a proposed increase in tuition costs. The proposal will raise the tuition for university from $2,168 to $3,793. This in itself is not very much, although the actual increase is significant. At the current time, it is estimated that the majority of students in Quebec pay tuition themselves, without taking any loans. It is unlikely that the increase will force a majority of students to take loans, there will, however, be an increase of students who will. An interesting side note, there are several countries that have free, or at least nearly free, tuition for their citizens. These countries include France, Sweden, Norway and Finland. Most of these countries have fees for their students, but they are much lower than some countries. 

One of the effects of the student protests is the emergency law, Bill 78. Bill 78 was passed on May 18, 2012, and is entitled, "An act to enable students to receive instruction from the post secondary institutions they attend." The bill basically states that any assembly, protest or picketing on or near university grounds require police approval. This in itself is a violation of the basic rights and freedoms of Canadians and humans. I do understand that there needs to some oversight by governing bodies in terms of assembly there should never need permission to protest. It will start a slippery slope where those in charge my deny protests simply because they do not agree.

Election Robocalls

In recent news, the scandal that has hit the Canadian government has continued to grow. More and more people are informing Elections Canada of harassing phone calls as well as being misdirected to voting polls. The Liberal party has since announced that they will release their phone records, as long as the companies that were hired for the election agree. The Tories still refuse to release their records and deny anything is wrong. They continue to point the finger at the Liberal party.


http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1142109--robocalls-elections-canada-expands-probe-into-fraudulent-messages-in-2011-vote?bn=1

London's no safer with Big Brother watching every minute

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2012/0222/Report-London-no-safer-for-all-its-CCTV-cameras

In a recent report, London, which probably has the most closed circuit television of any city, has not shown a drop in crime since the 1980's, when cameras started to be installed. It is estimated that the average Londoner passes through the view of 300 cameras a day.

Privacy activists worry that Britain will soon become an Orwellian state.

We, the Web Kids

There is an interesting manifesto from Piotr Czerski about growing up in the web generation. Here is a short excerpt.

There is probably no other word that would be as overused in the media discourse as ‘generation’. I once tried to count the ‘generations’ that have been proclaimed in the past ten years, since the well-known article about the so-called ‘Generation Nothing’; I believe there were as many as twelve. They all had one thing in common: they only existed on paper. Reality never provided us with a single tangible, meaningful, unforgettable impulse, the common experience of which would forever distinguish us from the previous generations. We had been looking for it, but instead the groundbreaking change came unnoticed, along with cable TV, mobile phones, and, most of all, Internet access. It is only today that we can fully comprehend how much has changed during the past fifteen years.

We, the Web kids; we, who have grown up with the Internet and on the Internet, are a generation who meet the criteria for the term in a somewhat subversive way. We did not experience an impulse from reality, but rather a metamorphosis of the reality itself. What unites us is not a common, limited cultural context, but the belief that the context is self-defined and an effect of free choice.

Writing this, I am aware that I am abusing the pronoun ‘we’, as our ‘we’ is fluctuating, discontinuous, blurred, according to old categories: temporary. When I say ‘we’, it means ‘many of us’ or ‘some of us’. When I say ‘we are’, it means ‘we often are’. I say ‘we’ only so as to be able to talk about us at all.

It in itself is interesting. Not everything translates well, but still fairly interseting
http://pastebin.com/0xXV8k7k

a fossilized forest was found in China

In a turn of events, mining for coal actually produced some good when a fossilized forest was found in Inner Mongolia. The forest, at almost 300 million years old, was preserved from volcanic ash, similar to the old Roman city of Pompeii.

The researchers dubbed the forest the “Pompeii of the Permian period, since the manner in which it was preserved bared a striking resemblance to the famous Roman namesake event. The volcanic ash covered a large expanse of forest over the course of only a few days, ultimately sealing it away from time until present day.

http://www.zmescience.com/research/studies/300-million-year-old-fossil-forest-china-906854/

Cottage photos

Rick Mercer on C-30

Last World War I Vet Dies

Florence Green, the last veteran from World War I passed away on February 4, 2012. Although she only served as a waitress, she was still part of the Women's Royal Air Force. She was 110 years old, and was close to turning 111. So ends our final link to the Great War

The Beatles- Comes the Sun Lost Guitar Solo

Gotye/ Walk off the Earth Mashup

The Internet blacked out

The world has been blacked out

I've written recently about SOPA, and there is a similar bill called PIPA that is in the works. SOPA was recently shelved, as numerous people, companies and organizations spoke out about the Draconian rules that SOPA was proposing. PIPA, however is still in the works. If either one of these acts become law, the damage to the open and free internet will be immeasurable.

The new laws will violate numerous personal rights in the name of corporations. The acts also make internet providers and websites responsible for their user's action. As well, the simple act of linking to a site that holds pirated material makes the linker guilty of piracy as well.

Several different websites have blacked out their homepage only to display a message about how SOPA and PIPA will harm the web, the internet community and innovation in general. I know I live in Canada, so I have very little influence about this, but because I live in Canada, I know that our government will soon follow whatever the US does. Not only that, but several of the websites that I use on a daily basis, including Wikipedia, Reddit, and dozens more are located in the US so they will be affected by these two bills.

Talk to anyone you can, tell your elected representative, and just stay informed. These two acts will help to take down the free and open nature of the internet so that a few companies can make more money.

Jam Session 2

Here is the second video I made of the jam session we had on New Year's. I really wished I was able to record the entire night, but there was no way my phone would have been able to record everything. I think next time we do this, I'll see if I can get an actual camera to set up.

Not Your Typical subway ride

Some kind soul captured this on a NYC subway ride. I don't know if this really was spur of the moment or planned, either way its pretty cool.

Jam Session 1

So for New Years last night, I was at a friend's house. The Friend in question is a music teacher, and alot of his friends are musicians as well. We had an 8 hour jam session going for most of the night, people would pick up instruments, play, put down the instrument, move to the next one, or others would pick up where they left off. Possibly the greatest New Years ever. Here's a clip