Gone to Burning Man!

It's almost time, just waiting for my ride.

Matt and Kubi were awesome helping me get ready, as were Bill and Mike.

My brother Paul's help was instrumental and my Mom did a fantastic job sewing my jacket.

I will have a wicked time and be back in a week all dusty and dried out.

Here we go...
Buy the ticket...
Take the Ride!

one sleep till the desert bacchanalia (who can sleep?)

I went over to Mike's place yesterday, cleaned up my bike chain, and did all my laundry. We saw Inglourious Basterds again, it was great to see it again and absorb a bit more. It was a great theatre too, Sundance Kabuki Cinema in Japantown, with reserved seating and they served alcohol. I had some beer and popcorn, but it was hard to concentrate with so much to do before the burn. Everyone enjoyed the movie, it's so good.

I have been feeling so stressed out it will be nice to finally get out to the Playa. Black Rock City opens in 15 minutes and it's time for me to become a citizen. We are supposed to leave around 8am, Sweet Chinitos is on my breakfast horizon.

I spent today getting the last little bit ready for Burning Man tomorrow.

I solved my camera problem, I picked up a digital Kodak camera at Wallgreens.

I talked to my ride Frank, sounds like we will have enough space for my stuff, which is a great relief of the stress I've been having. I don't need to stress anymore, It's going to be awesome.

So close my lips are cracking

My hands are getting dusty which could only mean one thing: Time to get the gear!

Matt drove me to our storage area to get my Burning Man stuff, still sitting in a bin all dusty from last year. I cleaned it up and tossed the old junk. My old stuff is awesome, I can't wait to get it out on the Playa. Cleaning out my Camelback, vital for maximum water consumption. Hopefully I can get this bin and a chair on Jody's truck leaving tomorrow. He seemed a little reluctant.

I found a ride on Craigslist leaving in the morning on the 31st.

I still have to find a camera, I didn't take pictures last year. It was a decision I made mostly because I didn't have a camera, and I still don't. I wish I had taken pictures last year, so I guess it is a regret, which sucks. I hate regrets. Gotta take some pictures.

TIFF - Toronto International Film Festival - My Film List

These are the movies I'm trying to get tickets to at Tiff. Since I'm in San Francisco, my awesome brother Paul is taking care of the arduous task of completing the Tiff ticket order form (extra difficult in 2009).

Thanks Paul. You rock.

Inglourious Basterds

The new Tarantino flick is fantastic.

Inglourious Basterds is a war movie like no other, with a distinct flavour that could only be Quintin. I read the script when it leaked back in February and have been eagerly anticipating this film ever since. It did not disappoint. An excellent cast brings QT's words to life in English French and German(a tiny bit of Italian too).

It's not as much an action film as Kill Bill, but still has all the hyper-violence you would expect from the Indie Master. It's very funny too, as long as you can laugh at Nazis being brutalized.

At first I thought this movie was in the genre of historical fantasy, but now I think it is supposed to be an actual 1940's war movie that, true to it's genre doubles as a propaganda piece. Tarantino is brilliant, I bow before him.

Hoboken!

Famed Hoboken Penguin.

OOOOHHHH,NOOOOO!!!!!! I'M AT THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN!!!

Patrick Starfish chilling in Bikini Bottom

We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium yesterday. Tons of fun with the guys.

Radiohead has a new song, available from their website here. It's free, so check it out.

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10 Days till Burning Man- Not Ready

I have been in San Francisco for a week and a half and the only thing getting me closer to the burn is the passage of time.

I have done zero to prep, save buy cool stamps (still time to get on my postcard list, btw).

Last year was a mad frantic preparation dash, but with Matt and Kubi not going this year, I get to actually be radically self-reliant(a very important part of the Burn).

I need to get my food and water, and booze, some light shirts to wear, and a way to get it all to the Playa. I can borrow the gear I need from my good friends.

I did work out a possible ride with Jody, but it would require staying in Reno for 2 nights.

Snack Related News: I have almost perfected the Cap'n Crunch Square a tasty alternative to the traditional Snap Crackle and Pop marshmallow treat.

New Weezer, Title/Date! Smashing Pumpkins new 19 year old Drummer!

Cool things always happen in the summer. Sometimes I get to see it just cause I'm here in San Francisco, but it also means I miss anything cool going on in Toronto while I'm gone.

Weezer has a new single out at the end of the month. Click here to listen to "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To". It' sounds cool. Weezer's tour with Blink-182 begins in Toronto in a few weeks, and Rivers will be playing soccer in a charity game the day before the show. I wasn't too upset about missing the show, but now with the soccer game and the fact they will debut new music I kinda wish I could be in Toronto. I was less than impressed with the last Weezer effort, the self-titled red album. Geffin's Weezer seemed to be suplying high fructose pop music to tween consumers. I wish they could make a record all us fans can be proud of. Hopefully the new record delivers. Weezer's seventh studio album will be known as Raditude. Out 10/27, Produced by Jacknife Lee and Butch Walker.

Billy Corgan confirmed what we already knew, The Smashing Pumpkins new drummer is 19 year old Mike Byrne. He will join Corgan on the next Pumpkins album/tour and also at some upcoming solo shows Billy is doing in southern California.

I am looking forward to hearing Billy's new SP. It waill not be the same without Jimmy, but I am willing to give it a chance (and the kid must be a pretty good drummer).

These solo shows are so intimate, imagine 75 people in a coffee shop! Being in California presently you would think I would be trying to get tickets, but the nearest show is 4 hours away!
Normaly I would over extend myself and make an attempt to go, however all my time and recources are focused on Burning Man, so no distractions. Sorry Billy, next time in Toronto.

Want a postcard from Burning Man?

Hey- I'm going to Burning Man in two weeks! I'm getting my postcard list together. If you know about my postcard fetish then you know I would love to send you a postcard from Black Rock City. The Burning Man postmark is rare as it is only available for one week of the year from the middle of the desert. Do I have your address? Msg me on facebook to make sure.

You can send me a postcard here(but you gotta send it in the next week or so):

Sunny J
Midnight Poutine
7:30 & Biology
C/O BRCPO
Burning Man
Gerlach, NV 89412 USA

Tiff Picks

These are some of the films I'm hoping to see at Tiff this year:

Air Doll D:Kuki Ningyo, Hirokazu Kore-eda
No trailer available

Chloe D:Atom Egoyan
No trailer available

Whip it D:Drew Barrymore

Suck D:Rob Stefaniuk


Jennifer's Body D:Karyn Kusama


White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights


Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus


Capitalism: A Love Story Michael Moore

Turtle the incredible journey

Beer Bust

When my luggage came around on the carousel, I could see something had gone wrong. I quickly opened the suitcase and started extricating the cans of Steamwhistle I brought to drink at Burning Man. One of the cans was super-cold, while the rest were at room temperature. It also weighed about a third less, so this was my leaky culprit! Maybe my bag was against the side of the plane or something. So one can down, 7 to go. Mmm... Beers from the foreign land of Canada.

I took the BART.

The gang was at the bar downstairs celebrating Matt's birthday. I met everyone outside, and we went and celebrated some more.

More Smoking in Hell's Kitchen

Gordon Ramsey's Hell's Kitchen is really just a infomercial about the great stress-relief available from smoking cigarettes in cliques. These are from episode five. There was so much smoking in this episode it gave me nicotine spins. Here, from one episode are 24 separate shots of people smoking:


























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The Stormalongs Need You!

My good friends the Stormalongs happen to go great with Steamwhistle beer, so please vote for them to play the Steamwhistle Indie Club! Please Click Here and VOTE!

My favourite band and my favourite beer, sinful.

so long YYZ, Hello SFO!

I bit the bullet and ordered a 10 ticket package for Tiff. Paul is going to pick up my booklet and take care of my order. I had a coke with him on his lunch break since I wont see him for a while. Paul lent me the money to pay for some fries and gravy at Poutine Camp, so thank you Paul! I hope he can make it next year!

I know I've mentioned it a million times, but the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge is excellent*! Well worth the extra 30$ cost, it puts the classy back into air travel. It's a great way to relax before a flight, as I'm doing now. Plenty of snacks, boozy drinks, and internet access! What more could a nervous traveler ask for?

It's Manimal's birthday! So I'm gonna have some more drinks after I land in San Francisco.

Two and a half weeks in the Bay Area and then it's off to Black Rock City for Burning Man 2009!

I will be blogging all the time so please check back often, and leave comments if you feel so inclined.


*Try the cookies and the soup! Coke Zero does not mix well with Crown Royal

Tomorrow, the City

I woke up really early, I had a dream my feet were in water and I think it made me have to pee. i had a great breakfast and went to the gym. I did some tidying up when I got home, but didn't get any laundry done.

I made the trip to the 'Saug to see my Mom. I stopped by the Steamwhistle Brewery for a free sample and to pick up 8 fresh Tallboy Cans to bring to the Playa. When I got to Mom's, as I predicted, she was sewing up a storm and watching Jack McCoy seek justice. My jacket was finished and she was working on the hat. It looks so cool, but I'm not putting pictures up till I get back. I hope she continues sewing because she is so talented. She thinks she is getting rusty but you really can't tell(so cool!). When she finished we had dinner and watched some HowardTV onDemand she so gloriously subscribed to. I had to take the bus back home, cause tomorrow is a busy day.

Thank you Mom for sewing me a kick-ass Coat to wear at Burning Man.

AGGHHH!!! I just knocked my bud grinder over spilling it's illicit contents on to my somewhat dusty floor. boo-urns!

I'm flying to San Francisco tomorrow evening. Burning Man is in two and a half weeks! I have some things I would like to get done before I fly out, but we will see. I went to the Optomitrist last week and I am waiting on a voucher from O.D.S.P.. If I get the form in the mail I can try to get a pair of glasses. The guy at Hakim said they can be ready in an about an hour. I have a lot of other stuff to get to as well, so we will see.

I absolutely have to go to Tiff when I get back in September, no question about it. It's important to you, my loyal blog readers, that I go to the greatest film festival in the world. I can't deny my love of film, and my love of seeing all the best movies before anyone else.

Here is the trailer for Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

);( in 21 days

I got back into the gym for the first time in two weeks. I had a great time in Timmins and Ottawa, but it really fucked up my program. I don't think the 2 days before I head to San Francisco will have much of an effect, but I'm going to go and get a workout in anyways(Gotta suspend my membership while I'm gone too). I think I look pretty good with my shirt off, I guess I can just do a bunch of push-ups between now and the fast approaching Burn to keep it up.

I bought some groceries to save me from eating any fast-food between now and my flight on Wednesday. Bread for tuna and sprout sandwiches, peanut butter for my toast, bananas and apples, rice and broccoli for dinner(mmm... butter chicken). I have to go see Mom tomorrow in Mississauga and wait by her sewing machine while she frantically attempts to finish my coat for Burning Man.

I'm going to tidy up and start packing. So much to do.

Back in Toronto

Wow, what a great wedding. I almost cried during the ceremony(By "almost", I mean "did"). The dinner was great and the party afterward was lots of fun(classy mini poutines served at midnight).

On the way to the bus station I got stung by some jerk hornet. Right between my middle finger and index. My hand is still pissing me off 12 hours later.

Sink Beers

I woke up early and got my stuff together. Decided against a Macdonalds "breakfast" and hopped on a bus to Ottawa for Paul and Charissa's Wedding!

When I got to the bus station I used my kick ass phone to get gps map directions to my hotel (While in our Nation's capital guests of Sunny J stay at the Radison Hotel). My hands were full and I used the voice feature instead of typing R-a-d-i-s-o-n O-t-t-a-w-a. I love my G1 phone. I'm not looking forward to having to use my shitty Virgin Mobile phone in California next week, but Rogers sucks donkey dick in the roaming department(40¢ per text msg! Die Zombie Ted Rogers!).

The hotel is nice, I loaded the sink up with ice and beers. Everyone is at the wedding rehearsal. I'm in the hotel now just hanging out. Watching What not to Wear on tv, more like "what not to watch". I found a nearby park to smoke a bowl in.

Mike called from a pub in Kanata so I'm taking a cab out to get a beer.

Double Feature: Funny People/Transformers 2

I'm so busy getting my shit together for Mr. White's wedding, my suit is ready and my room is booked, taking the bus to Ottawa in the morning. I really wanted to see some movies, since I hate to fall behind since Tiff is around the corner. So I went to the movies alone, which I don't mind.

George Simmons in "Re-Do" (Adam Sandler - Funny People) from Justin Long

Funny People was really good. Not your typical Judd Apatow comedy, not a lot of crazy laughs, although it is very funny. A great cast with lots of good moments, I just love Seth Rogen. Adam Sandler gets to do some real acting and lampoon his previous work. Tons of cameos.

As for Transformers 2, it sucked balls. It wouldn't be so long if they didn't have so much slow-motion. I can't even waste time on why this movie sucks, please just read Roger Ebert's review HERE. At least I snuck in and didn't have to pay for it (unless you count my time).

I saw the trailer for Where The Wild Things Are, and I predict it will be at Tiff this year, I love Spike Jonze.

Hell's Kitchen Full of Smokers

I like Hell's Kitchen, it's my favorite of the action-kitchen genre. I have been watching for a few years, but I'm really not impressed with the amount of smoking in the new season 6. So far, every episode (1-4) of the 9pm(Tuesday) Fox network reality program has featured it's contestants smoking cigarettes at some point in the show. No wonder these guys can't cook, they can't taste the food because of their ashtray mouths. It's pretty disgusting on a food related show.

These screencaps are all from separate shots of Hell's Kitchen cooks smoking in the first four episodes:




















It seems like a lot of smoking to have on tv. I wonder if chef Gordon Ramsay cares about the health of his chefs at all?

Please leave comments!

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TOOL Rocks Molson Amphitheatre! 8/5/2009

My buddy Hollywood rules! We got blazed in the parking lot, then found the end of the huge line into the Amp.

I ran into Jagger and his fiance Ashlie, we discussed legal briefs and TOOL setlists. Jagger decided not to look at the internet to see what songs the band will play. In the past he would predict the set and be pretty accurate (but I think his mind was once blown at ACC with a Salival version of Pushit)

TOOL was good but I've seen them a few times, and it's tough when you compare it to other shows. The set was close to the last time I saw them on the 10,000 Days Tour, not surprising since they don't have a new album to support. Maynard was the most talkitive I've ever seen him, "Holy shit that's a lot of Canadians!" and he kept saying something about French Fries. He introduced a guest guitarist for 46&2 as Stephen Hawking, and later Christopher Robin joined Danny on drums for Lateralus. We had a good enough view of the stage from section 304 (considering I'm fucking blind, I could at least see people on it). They definatly blew my mind out the back of my skull with trippy visuals on the screens and crazy lazers. The best part of the visual aspect was when the lazers did a whole ASTEROIDS game thing and shot the place up. I hope they go back into studio soon to make a new record. Laturalus came out the same day as Weezer's Green, and causes simillar summer 2001 flashbacks. I love TOOL but I crave something new. Unfortunatley they only seem to put out 1 album every 5-6 years.

Jambi
Stinkfist
46&2
Schism
Lost Keys
Rosetta Stoned
Flood
Aenema
Lateralus
Vicarious