Monday, March 31

i am not alone

As mentioned below, I found The Pipettes through the YouTube entertainment show What the Buck? As will be ably demonstrated by these two videos, Mr. Buck's obsession with The Pipettes is far beyond mine, although I do have time to catch up.

This first episode is not long after he discovered The Pipettes:



This second video is a musical episode of What the Buck? using "Pull Shapes":



Enjoy!

guilty pleasure: sugary sweet pop

Alright, I know I will probably lose what little credibility I have left with this post, but I have to do it. This is brilliant! I just found this group through buckhollywood.com and I can't get the song out of my head.

It is everything happy music should be, fun, poppy and campy. The group is called The Pipettes. To no one's surprise they are British. No one does sugar sweet pop like the brits. The song is called "Pull Shapes" and I defy you not to pull a shape by the time the song is done:

Saturday, March 29

blog reader

I've added a new blog to the blogs I read section over on the right side of the page. Not sure why this blog hasn't been in the list before as I have been reading it for ages. The blog is called Towleroad. It's named after its founder, Andy Towle, a former editor of Details magazine. Anyways its updated many times a day, five days a week, and includes weekly guest bloggers on music, technology and theatre.

earth hour

Today, people around the world at 8 pm in their respective time zones will turn off the lights and use the least amount of electricity as possible to mark earth hour. I understand the symbolic importance of these initiatives, but they still drive my crazy.

I understand that if we can get each individual to change their habits, we can make significant changes. However, I am frustrated on this total focus on individual behaviour when countries and nations are doing nothing to resolve the climate crisis. Why as an individual should we pay, when the majority of the damage has come from large scale polluters. Don't get me wrong, I think individuals needs to do their part, and I recognize that large scale polluters are often making the items that we as individuals demand, but still, the focus is still too much on the individual.

Here's a youtube video that takes on Al Gore along this same idea, poking fun at Al Gore jetting around creating a huge carbon footprint to talk about global warming:

Wednesday, March 26

guilty pleasure: rick rolled

So, Rick Astely has been all over the internet lately. It appears he's unwittingly part of a new (ok new to me) internet prank where a link is identified as to new gaming news, when it fact it takes you to Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up". There's even a site dedicated to it called YouGotRickRolled.com.

The other big news is here and here. I loved Rick Astley. He's a total guilty pleasure.  I couldn't find a version of the video that I could embed here. If you want to see the 80s video in all of its fabulous glamour click on the yougotrickrolled link above. Otherwise, here's Rick, live in concert:

oh harry, you let me down

No, this is not a blog entry about Prince Harry and all his roguish antics that appear to be coming to an end now that he has served in Afghanistan. It is about Harry Rosen. And it is more than just the brand Harry Rosen, it is how that brand relates to Mr. Rosen himself.

In the latest round of procrastination efforts, I was looking through the society photos on the Globe and Mail. Yes, I know. I don't need a lecture. Anyways, I saw the following picture of Mr. Harry Rosen himself, taken at a swanky society event.


Note: this photo belongs to the Globe and Mail.

Now, I know I am going to be accused of being harsh, but Mr. Rosen, what's with your tie. It's tied nicely, and certainly appears to be long enough. Why on earth is the short narrow end not tucked into the handy that piece of fabric that keeps it behind the other part of the tie.

If your name is synonymous with men's fashion in this country, is it too much to ask for you to make sure you set a standard. It's one thing around the house, but at a society event where you are going to be photographed, please, for all of us who look to you as a standard, please, please pay attention to the small details.

Harry, you let me down. It's not quite worth a withering look of disapprovaltm, but it's close.

Tuesday, March 18

i told you so

Back in January I wrote about Stephane Dion's appointment of a sitting (recently elected) NDP MLA as the Liberal candidate in a northern Saskatchewan riding. The by-election for that riding took place yesterday.

Well to Mr. Dion's and Ms. Beatty's surprise, but not to mine, Ms. Beatty lost. It appears having a candidate dropped in from another party with no open nomination process encourages people to stay home. I suspect, and it has been widely discussed, that a lot of Liberals upset at the process stayed home this election figuring out whoever was elected wasn't going to be around for long.

Here's some of the coverage of the by-election results:

CBC Saskatchewan
Globe and Mail
UPDATED: New Globe and Mail Story

As for Ms. Beatty, it appears she has the right idea. Stick around, fight a nomination battle if she has too, and run again whenever the Liberals finally stand up and vote rather than sit and abstain. There's a good chance that spending the next several months campaigning and showing people that she's willing to make a commitment to running federally may be what it takes to get Liberal supporters back to the polls and her into the House of Commons.

Tuesday, March 11

white is the new black

I picked up these photos from another blog and thought they were quite interesting. These are all sightings of rare white/albino versions of iconic animals; a killer whale, a stag and a moose.



Monday, March 10

a letter to the snails...

Dear Snails:

You probably think this letter isn't about you. You're wrong. How can you know? Ask yourself: "Am I Student Not Actually In Law School?" If the answer is yes, you're a snail.

It's not quite a term of affection, but an more of an easy and quick descriptor. However, we do restrain ourselves and do not call you snails (a) to your face or (b) while we are slumming on the rest of campus. No, it is only when you enter the hallowed halls of the little law school on the prairie that we refer to you as snails.

For example, today I found myself in the position of being the only law student in a row of forty desks in the Law Library; I was surrounded by science students. There was no respite to be found in the law student lounge which was full of commerce students taking up all the available tables and chairs.

We understand that as law students we are incredibly cool and you want to be like us. It's a burden we have come to accept. However, it is simply going too far. We need our space; being this cool is a lot of work and we need some down time. A chance to relax in our lounge with other law students, where we can take a break from being so cool.

Despite your little death glares, we will not feel guilty for asking you to be quiet and to not do your science group work in the middle of the law library. The law is a solitary mistress, she does not like groups. We must work individually our noses in books briefing cases, interpreting 100 year old cases, and writing papers. Quiet helps immensely.

We also understand that our shiny new, environmentally-certified building makes us even cooler and current. You poor commerce snails, we feel for you. Yes, you had a shiny new building, but ours came along and all of a sudden yours looks old and gray. However, we paid for our new building; students and faculty donated money so we could have our own space. It's one thing to use our library, but our student lounge and our classrooms, they are for us. We need the space. We spent a term as refugees with no home on- or off-campus. Angelina Jolie was actually considering adopting us, we were in such a state.

Please give us some time to enjoy our space. If you really want to be like us, write the LSAT and then you too can spend three long years within these prison walls, oops hallowed halls. Plus, you will lose your snail status and be able to look down on those annoying people in the law lounge who used to be you.

Sincerely,

Those of us actually in law school

Wednesday, March 5

back to normal

The month of February was insane. I am (I guess technically "was" now) on one of the moot teams for the little law school on the prairie. This moot took control over my life. Essentially four of us flew to Toronto to argue an appeal of a case in front of real judges from across Canada.

Being competitive, and wanting to avoid humiliation, we all worked our assess off before heading to Toronto this past weekend. We left last Thursday, and I just got back today, hence the absence of blogging for the past week.

It was a great experience, one I would do again, and one I would recommend to others. The only problem is now that I am behind in all my other classes, and will probably need to work as hard for the next couple of weeks just to try to get through the rest of this term.

The moot itself was great. We argued in historic courtrooms, normally used by the Ontario Court of Appeal, in Osgoode Hall. Our jobs were really good, asking enough questions for us to display our skill in answering them, but also giving us the time to make our argument. It appears I am "unruffable".

It's nice to have a confirmation, that doing this law school thing is the right thing. When I finished my arguments, I knew it's what I wanted to do for the next years of my life.