BNL Page-Less

So, Steven Page has left BNL.

Just a quick pole... Who believes that he actually left? Hands?

No one? Okay then. Just to get that out of the way.

Now, actually, I do see one scenario where he technically could have left... Everyone else could have been like 'Yo, Steve, the way you're living your life really sucks for the rest of us' and he could have been all like 'yo, you guys are totally not cool. Fuck you. I'm quitting.'

What I really think happened goes a little more like 'Look, Steve, we love you, but snorting coke while we're promoting a kids album is just not cool. Now everyone thinks we're stoners, and, you know, we all have kids, man. And, well, no one will play us anymore and... well...'

And then...

'Are you guys firing me?'

I mean, he's Steven Page -- not freakin' Steven TYLER! The Barenaked Ladies have always been good, silly, clean fun. For everyone. They're almost the anti-rock-band. If it were any other band, a coke arrest would be nothing but a blip on the radar... but The Barenaked Ladies? Come on, Steven.

I hope I'm wrong. Because, well, that would be a pretty stupid place to go with your life when you have more opportunities than most of us could ever dream of.

Here are some Steven Page goodies. No matter how much damn coke he snorts, his voice is still amazing.






I had the pleasure of seeing BNL live a couple years ago, and man, I'm glad I went. Not only was it probably my last chance to do so (not that I could have known that at the time), but it was an amazing show.

While I do understand the choice to boot Page, I really don't understand how they're going to survive without him. So many of those songs are just his.
I know this sounds super cheesy, but an era in Canadian music fizzled today. And it really sucks.

To Arc or Not To Arc

I've been posting a lot of useless crap lately. I figured it was about time to post something slightly on topic.

I had two separate conversations today about arcs on TV.

The first conversation happened as I walked by my parents' bedroom. My Dad was reading Batman and had the TV on. I poked my head in the door and asked what he was watching. He answered 'Galactica'. I made a comment about how I'd never really gotten into it because it was a little soap opera-ee for me, but that I'd heard that it was very good. He shrugged and said that he was always confused whenever he caught an episode. He didn't know who the Cylon of the week was. It was the kind of show that you really had to watch every episode of to really understand.

But, then, I remembered that my Dad watches 24 every single week without fail because he's hooked to the continuing storyline.

Later, I was sitting with my brother and we got to talking about our favorite shows again. I can't remember what brought this conversation around, but we got to talking about LOST and how my brother was confused. "I don't know who's evil. There are people who you think are good that are evil and people that were evil that are good now and good people that turned evil. You're trying to follow, like, thirteen lives and it's confusing."

I watched almost all of the first season of Lost and then I missed a couple episodes and when I tuned in again, I was so confused that I'm still wondering where that hour of my life disappeared to. I haven't watched it again since.

You look at something like CSI, and it's heavily bottle episode based. I can tune in whenever I want. It doesn't matter if I missed the previous episode or if it's a repeat or what have you. I can watch and enjoy. And it's one of the most successful dramas in recent history. BUT many people say that they really wish they could know more about the characters on CSI. I would have to agree. I would bring Miami into the picture... and how it's a bit more woven... but I can't stand Horatio. And I was really pissed off that they killed his wife and then promptly did not deal with how it would feel to have your wife murdered. I mean, if you're going to use something so personal in your story line, you can't just refuse to deal with the repercussions. Anyways. I digress.

But, to use an example from a similar format to Battlestar, Stargate is pretty balanced in the arc department. Well, from what I've seen of it. I've never been confused. I have a couple seasons of Atlantis on DVD and I'm randomly perusing the episodes and although I've gone 'huh' a couple times, I've never been LOST enough to turn it off. But, there's also some great character moments and continuing threads that don't overwhelm you. I've heard that SG1, on the other hand, was very heavily arc based in the last couple seasons. Seasons that I've never bothered to watch.

And closer to CSI... When I watch NCIS, it's really very balanced. This season has been less of an arc based season, but even back when they were dealing with Ari or the Frog Dude, it wasn't impossible to simply tune in. Plus, they throw out little nuggets for the fans even in the little bottle episodes... such as the time we met Gibbs' Dad. You didn't need to know anything about the show to watch and understand the case or what's going on, but it was especially touching for all of us who watch week in and week out to find out about Gibbs' Dad and learn that Shannon was the one who'd stared the 'rules'.

Shows like House have almost a weekly storyline (the patient) thrown in with the continuing thread (drug abuse, babies, relationships, friendships, etc).

I guess you can tell where my bias lies... But I can't dispute that shows like Battlestar and Lost have been quite successful -- and, hey, look at 24 -- even if they aren't my cup of tea. Oh, and those last two seasons of Stargate: SG1 (that I didn't watch) spawned a movie that sold very well. Shows what I know I guess, hey?

I guess the big question to anyone who knows something is... What do you prefer? Both in terms of writing and in terms of watching.

Acting

This is going to be really pointless...

I've always thought that being an actor would be horrible. Actually, I kinda know it would be horrible. Sit around and wait. Memorize tons of lines. Either be really poor or have people following you around like school girls... or both if you're really unlucky.

BUT

If I absolutely had to be an actor...

(I know... the horror... if I had to be rich and powerful *sigh* the awfulness... Plus, what are the chances? Seriously, it'd probably be easier to win the lotto. Although I haven't actually checked the stats. But I'm almost positive.)

Anyways...

If I had to, I think I'd choose to do sci fi TV.

Why?

It's the perfect balance. You're un-famous enough to go about your life, but you're famous enough that people will throw conventions in your honour and pay you to attend them. You make enough money to live comfortably (if you're smart) but not enough that your long lost cousin will track you down for money. You're successful enough that people won't think you're a looser but unsuccessful enough to really be judged too critically. If that makes any sense.

So, if I ever had to be an actor, I'd totally be the chick from Smallville or Jewel Stait (is that her name?) or Marina Sirtis (sp??) or something like that. Why? Because I don't know the first person's actual name or the spelling of the last two. And that's totally the point.

In all honesty, I think being famous would be completely miserable. I think Britney Spears is insane, but I really can't judge her, because in all honesty, I'd probably be just as crazy if I were her!

In other news... I had my first Winnipeg Winter Slurpee today and it was amazing.

Virgin Radio

From the FB petition to pull Virgin bus ads:

"The unhappy young women/girls portrayed in the ads are supposed to have been impregnated by "Rock Gods". This insinuates that only heterosexual males can be talented musicians."

Um. Okay. What about the obvious 'this is disrespectful to women'??

Google the ads if you'd like to see them.

To be honest, I didn't exactly really care about the ads. They were kind of 'eh'. BUT. If you're going to petition for them to be removed, the obvious way to go is the 'disrespects women!' angle. I just think it's a little weird to take the sexual orientation angle. How does that ad say that only heterosexual males can be talented musicians? If it's anything, the ad is derogatory towards women.

Is it just me... or is the above an odd angle to take?

One of my hugest pet peeves is when people struggle to create prejudice where there is actually none. We have enough problems with small minded people. Don't create problems where there aren't any.

Well, in this case, there's a problem. In this ad, I see prejudice towards women, and, hey, maybe even rock gods (more stereotyping in this case, but let's not get too much into it), but towards gay men or women? Ridiculous.

This post is pretty retarded when you consider that the actual ad didn't offend me at all. Just the petition. I thought the ads were bad and not well thought out... and made no point what-so-ever. But I honestly didn't get in a huge huff over them when I saw them.

What Awful News

Being a complete Winnipegger, there's no way I could have managed to go through life without knowing who Ron Able was. I spent many mornings on the way to school listening to him and Caroline.

Ron died today. He was 57 years old. Fifty Seven. He found out that he had pancreatic cancer less than a month ago.

I'm not a huge country music fan, but Ron always made me laugh. A true Winnipeg legend. I honestly don't remember not having Ron Able somewhere on my dial.

I didn't know Ron personally, so it's an odd feeling... We come to feel as if we know these people because we hear them every day and they share so much with us.

Most of all, I'm just angry as hell at cancer. When will this stop? It seems like everyone has lost someone to cancer and yet most of us are so uneducated and so disconnected when it comes to what we can do to help... Whether it's where we should donate money to or where we can volunteer or what we should be doing for ourselves... we either don't know or don't do and it really just breaks my heart.

We put a man on the moon. We should be able to cure cancer.

57 years old. Just fine a month ago. This could be any one of us.

Writers, Take a Gander

Okay, so, at times, my spelling and grammer might not be the best. But when I'm trying to get a job, I use spell check.

Now, this is in no way a dig at the host site of the link I'm about to post. I've used this site to get every single one of my radio jobs. I owe this site my career.

No, this is a dig at the people who post on the site's 'Talent For Hire'. When you go to post your ad, there's a huge warning saying that the owner WILL NOT SPELL CHECK or EDIT your post. At all. As he shouldn't... we all should be able to do that ourselves!

Anyways, sometimes, I read the 'Talent For Hire' section just to laugh at the typos. I mean, come on people! Who's going to hire you if you put Randon capital Letters in your ad or miss things like punctuation or don't know the difference between your and you're. The spelling mistakes are the worst... because we all have SPELL CHECK!

Whenever I need to feel less dumb, I check out this site:
http://www.milkmanunlimited.com/talent.htm

Anyone with any sort of skill in the written form of the English language will get a kick out of it.

Bale Is A Retard

Will Dixon just posted a bit of a different take on the whole Christian Bale rant. You can read it by clicking the link on my side bar.

I still think it was an ass wipe thing to do.

I don't care if you're putting yourself out there. Now, I'm not saying that I don't understand the pressure of being an actor. Or the intensity of being an actor. I'm no Christian Bale, but I've been an actor and I've worked as talent. I understand. You're the one people see/hear. I get it.

It's still no excuse.

Will's POV is interesting none the less.

See, this is how it should be. I don't agree with his POV, but I'm not yelling and screaming and calling him a mo$%^& f$%^&er co** s#%^er because of it!

We all get angry. The decent people know where to draw the line.

I really have no clue why this makes me so upset. I mean, I don't know Christian Bale. I never will. I'll never have to deal with him. I think it probably has something to do with the fact that I would like to think that, deep down, we'd all like to get together and sing 'It's A Small World' while holding hands. I understand that's a little idealistic. But people like Christian Bale bring dreamers like me back down to reality and, well, it makes me a little upset. Completely silly, I know.

Let me dream, Christian! Let me dream!

Nick Carter

Well, my teen idol was Nick Carter. I'm not going to lie -- I was head over heels.

But towards the tail end of my teenage years, he started to look a little, well, rough. I saw a picture of him a few weeks ago and thought, damn, he's looking good again!

(It's also notable that AJ is looking like shit)

Anyways... the reason he looks so damn sexy *ahem* I mean, wonderfully manly and refined? He's sobered up.

I mean, I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that this kid (who's now 29!) was doing drugs. All you had to do was LOOK AT HIM! He went from being a really skinny, cute kid to an adult with horrible skin and a weight problem. His eyes were half lidded and glassy. He didn't make any sense when he spoke. (Although you could argue that that had more to do with his intelligence than his drug use.)

What I don't understand is how someone can make such a stupid decision when they've dealt with others with the same problem. Doesn't anyone remember the whole 'AJ Goes To Rehab' debacle? My teenage self remembers Mr. Carter CRYING ON NATIONAL TELEVISION OVER IT!

I have this weird fascination with child stars. They always seem to crash and burn. I guess it's a symptom of too much money and control way too young. I know this might sound utterly retarded, but I feel really bad for these former kids. It wasn't their choice to be child stars. That was up to their parents. Now, that doesn't mean that I don't think their choices were stupid, etc, but I see how these things can happen when you're brought up with people around you who say yes to your every whim because you're paying for their kids' braces.

I dunno... I've always had a soft spot for these utterly screwed up beyond belief child stars. It must be my 'I Can Fix You!' complex at work. Just look at my dating record :P That should explain everything.

Christian Bale

Has everyone heard the Christian Bale rant? If not, HERE YOU GO!

Didn't I just post about this sort of thing?

If someone treated me like that, I'd like to say that I'd stand up for myself (or smack him!), but to be completely honest, I'd probably just burst out in tears.

My understanding is that the director of photography adjusted a light. A light! All of this over a light? No one has the right to talk to someone else that way. Period. What a dick wad.

I can't even begin to describe how much this bothers me! I would never dream of treating someone that way. I understand that not all people have the same standards that most of us have when it comes to human interaction, but, COME ON!

Putting It Out To The World

I can't remember where I heard this -- maybe it was Oprah? -- but apparently, when you really want something, you're supposed to put it out to the world and let it know. Cheesy, I know, but it can't hurt, right?

Someone got in contact with me about a job that I really want. Really want. It's perfect. It would give me great opportunities, a chance to grow, and a chance to use my skills. I really want this job.

So, world, there it is. I want this job.

And as for today's music vid, it's really just music... Phil Colins has a Canadian son named Simon. He's had a few singles you've probably heard on Canadian radio, but this one is special. For Genesis' 40th anniversary, he recorded a remake of 'Keep It Dark'. It's amazing. I mean, I knew he sounded like his Dad... but with Phil's trademark reverb, it really is striking how much he sounds like his Dad. Anyways, I really loved the song to begin with and I'd probably say that the cover is almost... better than the original.