Stupid Geniouses

this is agian sorta along the lines of advertising and even thouhgt i hate it, i have to tip my hat to 96X (96.3 FM) here in Edmonton AB. They have mastered the advertising, even when they dont try. The frist story is not the best example i have but a good one. So on the morning show about a week ago BJ and Shannon played a newly acuired, unreleased version of Jacob's (canadian idol dude) "Awake in a dream". no big deal right, wrong. see ive been told that Kaylin (a guy) won the canadian idolship this year and as a "reward" got to release the song writen for the winner, "awake in a dream". So this Jacob version got played and many people loved it an wanted it played again. But the DJ's realized they shouldnt play it again and only played 10 sec clips (apparently thats ok). So all the K (im calling him k cuz im not sure how to spell it exactly, like genious). fans called and emailed in and got all angry and stuff cuz its "his" song. so anyway there are all these people all angry and stuff, and people emailing in saying "im never listening to your show again. signed, mr dude, ONTARIO" like they care. So this story of the song playing was in a newspaper or 2 here in edmonton, and then local news in calgary to the south. then CTV put it on there national news. So suddenly 96X is being talked about all over canada. And like they say, there is no such thing as negative publicity.
Ok amazing story. 96X is like a god when it comes to advertising. There idea? "the 96X $10,000 fugitive". interesting? very. So there is a person in the edmonton area and only 2 people know who it is, the person themselves and the person who asked the other person. So this person could be anyone. And if you find this person you get 10,000 dollars of cold hard cash. sweet, so how do you find this person? you ask anyone and everyone a simple question, "Are you the 96X 10,000 dollar fugitive?". if they are you win, if they arnt, then you just advertised for 96X. Ya so however people are running around looking for this person and advertising them on the radio like every 15 mins. I would be suprised if someone in edmonton had not heard of this yet. And to "help" people out, clues are given at 8, 12 and 16 o'clock. The adds get very annoying but it is one of the best schemes ive heard of. I tip my hat to the evil corperation behind 96X.
-Ian
PS i would also really like to hear that new eminem song.

New Crichton

Just stumblied across this, I enjoyed it i hope you do as well. New Crichton
-Ian

Crichton Rules IMDb

Who doesn't wanna dance?

Gettin' Jiggy

Yes another football post. Today i address the one thing that everyone likes about football. well almost everyone. and here it is: the TOUCHDOWN DANCE. Who doesnt like the "dancing" after a player scores a TD. I was watching a news story about TD dances in the CFL. some people believe that they should allow a 2 minute time to celebrate the 'major' and have dance coriogrophers (ya know dancing instructors). This would be a cool thing and i just realized it might solve another problem i ran accross on MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL. There was a touchdown (bunny fingers) catch (stop bunny fingers). The anouncer, not madden the other dude was saying that the problem with the challenge flag (one of the coolest things ever invented) is that one the next play is played, they cant review the last one. so if there is a controvercial td, then it the kicking team gets out there right away and kick it, then the td stands. so if there was a 2 minute dance time, then the coaches (or refs) would have more time to through the flag (or review the pay). Its a win win situaltion. Im not sure im up for the 2 min dance but some of them are cool, i think the greatest appeal is the spontaneousness of it. But several or most of the CFL players beleive Jeremaine Copeland's 'score' dances are the best.
-Ian

Todays Topics: Posters don't Lie and a Lost Art

today was an interesting day. I saw a cool thing and noticed something I miss kinda. So anyway, we notice my friend sitting there and we were gonna do homework so we joined him. In front of him, in an empty pudding container was an apple core. Boring, or is it? So anyway, this friend said that he was disapointed (or something like that) with safeway, the last two apples he had had had worms tracks in them. (sorry bout that 3 hads, it makes sence but im not sure if its proper english(sorry it's 'it's' not 'its')). Anyway, this story is betting interesting eh? so it turns out that this very apple in the pudding container in front of me contains a rare specimen of an apple worm. A real live worm that lives in an apple. Just like very primary and elementary school poster out there. After some minutes, the worm desided to wander around a bit, it was kinda cool, and he had some sort of spider web like object attaching it to the apple or anything else. The story ends when the worm was thrown in the garbage with the core and container.
Next topic, graffiti. Remeber back in the good old days that in bathroom stalls, you could almost always find a slightly humurous lymerick or joke? Now that i think about it, im not sure how long is been since ive seen some good graffiti in a stall. I remeber one stall in Grant MacEwen college that only contained the words "Bad Boy B" (or something very similar). What is cool or interesting or funny about that? Another graffiti "fad" if you will is the use of stenciles. Whether it be robo cop, 50s advertising man, or George Dubya. (Yes i do realize the last "sentence" was not accually one.) I have to admit that the stencile do look cool, but so does "free-can" stuff to. I havnt seen some good "free-can" graffiti in a while. Now maybe it is the fact i live in Edmonton and not a ghetto, but im not sure. Im not sure what im saying or where im going with this, but there should be a balance of stencil and "free-can" "art". Anyone can use a stencil, but it takes a steady hand and a good eye to do the "free-can" stuff. anyway, ive rambled on enough, enjoy
-Ian

Great News lines

This post in my web log addresses the stupid things news reporters/anchors say. for example, I just watched on the news that a about 2 by 4 by 4 piece of wood with blades from utility knives ( \__7 Sorta that shape) sticking out of them were places in the sand on a beach volleyball court. At the end of the story, the news person said a very movie inforative line, something like "It is believed that these blocks were placed here to intentially hurt someone." NOOOO. REALLY? What else do you use them for? I know ive hurt other stupid lines but i cant think of any right now, if youve got any, comment them.
And also advice for Edmonton pedestrians, BE CAREFUL. like 5 people have been killed in less than a month from getting hit by cars, the latest episode involved a guy getting hit while walking accross a marked crosswalk with the lights flashing. So all you drivers out there, watch out for a kid on rollerblades and a blue backpack.
-Ian

Stupid previews

I am now faced with a problem, or maybe just a dilema. The movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is just opening. To me, this movie looks stupid. But unfortuatly, my not watching it may involve me missing a good movie. But is it worth the risk of watching movie. I bring an example, Hellboy. I thought it looked stupid, but some of my friends were going to it, so i thought id tag along cuz it had the potential to be good maybe. Well, it sucked. Another example, white chicks, looked either funny or a lame movie, i figured i wouldnt watch it and i havnt yet, but some of my friends said it was really good so i might end up watching it, im not sure. So why are previews so confusing, some movies look good and arnt, while others look crappy and often are, but may be good. Ya, Why cant all movies be good, that would be better.
-Ian
PS the Linsey Lohan SNL Harry Potter Skit is hilarious.

the heart part is cool (Scott tourny of hearts)

Only two good things in the pic, the old (nice) WCH trophy and the USA logo, neither you can see well.

anyone else thinking of Mosses and the Ten Commandments?

It's a sad sad day, but i was almost on tv

Hello Sportsfans! As most of you know, this years hockey season may not happen, or just part of it. I dont have much info or inteligence on this subject, but i would like to see some hockey. It does seem odd that this rich people are all fighting over money, but also it sounds like one of the sides want to make it easier for finacially struggling teams to stay in there locations.
Now about my near tv apperance. I was shopping then when i came out, the CFRN dude interviewed me about the hockey lockout (I of course had nothing inteligent or interesting to say), then they talked to a guy right by me and he showed up on tv, and yes, i was not 6 feet away. so close. but last year my roomate was on the cover of the Edmonton Sun holding up an anti-Comrie sign, that i helped make, thank you.
While we are on the hockey subject, what is with the new new world cup of hockey trophy? Sure shiny things are cool, but these guys beat each other up, dont give them something that is diamondy. The designer said he was looking for a new idea or look for a trophy, but do it for horse jumping or women's field hockey or something. There are 2 old World (Canada) cup trophies, one was the half maple leaf that canada has on there old (henderson-time) jersies, of course all silvery and shiny. The most recent one was a very cool one. Similar to the Scott tournament of hearts one accually (Schmirler rules). It is the WCH symbol, only extended up, like skyscrapers, and the top is like slanted with a red guy and a blue guy and the sides are all shiney(i think so anyway, ill try to find a pic).
You may be wondering why ive talked about hockey this long without congratulating are canadian team on their victory. I do have a good reason for this, any of you supprised? Canada rules (at hockey) of course we were gonna win. well post to ya soom,
-Ian

Fair catch?

Today was the first day of the 35th season of Monday Night Football. having probably never seen monday night football but a fan of all football (gridiron), i figured i'd watch it (at least until the LAX premeir came on). There are some things i like about NLF, like with 4 downs, the offence can accually get first downs more often. But the one thing i really don't like about the NFL, is the fair catch rule. When your watching it, its funny cuz the guy catches the ball and then just walks away even thouhgt the opponent is all around him. Its cooler when he runs away and sometimes gets nailed. Well that's my two cents, and yes, its canadian money,
-Ian

Nerdy nerdiness

OK here is a real post for today. Dr. Evil's trademark gesture is an extended pinky finger held to the corner of his mouth. The name of the muscle which extends the pinky finger is the Extensor Digiti MINIMI. (got it at an IMDb site for triva for APTSWSM. ya
-Ian

The greatness of freedom

We have all had it happen to us. We ARRRRRRE at an event that we may or may not be enjoying. But then the one thing that can always chear us up, free food. No matter how simple or complex the meal, it always pleases (or at least satisfies if it tastes bad). free food is one of the best inventions of all time. Comedies are also really good, they sure are funny. Well thats all now its off to bed for me, first day of school tomorrow. I know this is a lousy post, but im not sure the others are Readers Digest worthy.
-Ian

Now Playing: The Latest Fad

Soon Posting won't be cool

Ahh, another day, another post. Todays topic is Hollywood fads (Spoilers included). no matter how you put it, movie themes come and go. today I went to see the movie King Arthur. I did find this movie good, but after watching Troy earlier this summer, I am tiring of the medival times set movies. The only reason I am somewhat drawn to Alexander is because it sheds light on the undertakings of Alexander the Great, which would be nice to learn about, but im not sure its worth another banc of great fighters fight and one of them end up with the girl, who can also be an amazing fighter even though she has been looked in the dungeon up until a week ago. Another fad movie I wanted to watch then did was The Day After Tomorrow. For the first little while the movie was good. The introducing of a interesting plot, amazing special effects, but then it went bad. Even though the northern half of the US is freezing, I must get to my son even though i can offer no help at all, but i could die on the way and leave him fatherless. Then there is the timberwolves, who after escaping from there pen, stayed afloat when all the streets were flooded with hundreds of feet of water, then managed not to get frozen in the ice when it got cold out, and throughout all the city happened to find the one boat(that for some reason sailed into the city and stopped right infront of our characters, hmmmmmm) that the people had gone to after leaving the safety of there building not moments before. But at least they were real. Basically what im trying to say is that TDAT people were either slow, smart, or wanted to be best. Slow because end of the world movies are already old. Smart because they tricked people into watching another end of the world movie because we forgot what they looked like and that we grew sick of them. Or wanted to be best and dazzle every with special effects and not worry about the content of the movie (or that the lead woman looked like micheal jackson).
There are two examples of fads that I for one am tired of. Fads are great if your the first or maybe even the second movie of its kind, but other than that, you are trying to entertain an already entertained audience. I would also like to say that i saw the end of garfield and I am glad I didnt watch the whole movie, my gut was right, it is dumb (I was right about Hellboy too, dumb. also superhero movie fad, just thought of it). I will leave you with a final thought, Stuart Little, animated animal lead with human cast, Scooby Doo, animated lead animal with human cast, Garfield, animated lead animal with human cast, hmmmmm sencing a fad? Im signing off before blogging is lame,
-Ian

If i have to

Well i was told by an intelligent computer using sorce that the point of a blog is to post every day, and he is in the circles to know. so well here is my post for today, and yesterday too maybe. But what should I talk about. Maybe how much of a hit I am with the ladies, yes its true, or maybe the small size of my own room (8-9 by 8-9 feet, but i have shared rooms, i aint complaining, much), but i think i will complane abit about networks and network devices. So i have this wireless card in my laptop so i can get internet when I'm within about 150 feet of the router, handy right, yes, if it works. So i got this router ( a good deal too) and a 50 foot cat-5 cable (they are jsut handy to have). so im all excited and try to get my router to work. its got this settup wizzard so it will be easy right, no. It turns out that my router was not getting the WAN (Wide area network) (THE INTERNET of you computer illiterate people). So the wireless was working fine, but i had no internet. So i gave up for a while, and asked my landlord if he had any ideas, he didnt. but he told me that the internet comes in, then plugs into a router, then into a hub, then shows up in my room. So i got someone to help me, someone who knows a little about networks and can usually get them to work eventually. So we played around for a while then then thought, lets just plug it into the firts router and at least see if the router is working (we already eliminated the cable). So we go upstairs the the landlords place and plug int the router to the other router and sure enough it works. well perfect, not exactly. I could leave it up there cuz its wireless, but that isnt the best thing we could do. So we messed around with it for a while and that seems to be the best idea. then we figure we will take my 50 foot cable and run it down through the floor and then into my room, and plug the cable into the first router then into mine, good idea, but when my landlord installed the internet originally, he ran just cable, then put the ends on them after they were installed so the hole in the floor is only cable sized, not plug sized. So really we didnt get much in getting me wireless internet (without it i use my 50 foot cable and run it into the living room so i can use the internet on the coutch). but we did learn what the problem is, sortof. The hub doesnt like the router, or the router doesnt like the hub. they communicate a bit at the beginning then only breifly associate every coupld of seconds, but never share internet. its almst like humans, they meet and talk for a while and decide they dont like each other, but they are still connected so they have to cross paths every now and then so they give the hey, or my personal favorite, the head node. then they go on there way, never sharing information. Wow, that just came to me. Well to end the story, we gave up and hoped one or both of my roomates know about internet and networks. I hate you D-Link,
-Ian

A simple network, only not

Sit in front of the screen and look at the dot. Move your head forward and back, repeat

The olympic medal has the winged god of victory, Nike. humorous

Ian's Top Five Commercial pic

In order they came to mind
-Tim Horton's Commercial mentioned below
-Budwieser NFL kicking vase missed field goal
-Goodyear "Goin' to Winnepeg"
-Nike moving into the street hockey game
-Listerine Man and toothbrush guy meet Floss (who i found out is played by Tyler Muree, who did a commercial for TSN with Brian McCabe {got info here})
The touthbrush guy from the listerine commercial is my favorite commercial character right now i would post a pic but I can't find one if you can comment me an address, id really appreciate it thanks.
-Ian

Advertising (like Nike, they have good shoes)

And now to talk about one thing we all hate for 2 reasons. 1. It is really annoying. and 2. IT WORKS. Who hasn't found themselves singing a commercial song, or describing a commercial to friend, or saying "Let's get this so we can do (this) just like on the commercial." But the one thing i cant figure out is why there are so many bad commercials and ones that just don't make sence. As my doesnt make sence commercials, I will use the example of "The Little Blue Cow" commercials during the Olympics. I realize you surfers from the States (yes there are surfers from the states on my site) and anywhere will not understand this description of the commercials because you have probably never seen them, so I have included a handy feature called 3 stars, just skip ahead untill you see *** again. Ok hello Canadians (Canadiens for the French), eh. So what we have learned from the little blue cow, eh. Well first, it doesn't matter that the cow is female, she can compete (and beat) males and females, eh. Well thats about all we learn but isnt it weird that the cow can have a huge bell around her neck and still win at the 110 meter hurdles, eh. Amazing, eh. And then there is the obvious question, the name, eh. The Little Blue Cow, odd, because the cow is not blue, but accually a nice shade of WHITE, eh. *** Welcome back world, that was an example of how commercials apparently don't have to make sence. Now we address the question of good commercials/bad commercials. Why do some companies (Nike or Budweiser) have good commercials, while others (Dairy Queen or Tim Hortons) couldn't make two good commercials if their companies depended on it. Now naturally you'ld think, well money, Nike has millions more than Dairy Queen. So, it doesn't take a million dollars to figure out that excessive screaming or guys making funny noices and moving blizzard around arn't good material. Now that I've criticized the bad commercials, I'll take a moment to tell you about a good commercial. This commercial is The best Tim Hortons commercial ever (I think so anyway), o wait, I guess some of the older roll up the rim to win ones wern't too bad. Well anyway, rather than the usually 'Our product is the best thing ever and anyone will do anything to get it' or the 'Just get annoying after you have seen it twice because of annoying dialog or noices' TH decided to change there style and make a good commercial. Ok, you may have seen this commercial and if you have it will help. Well there is this guy and he like shaves and puts on a shirt and there is a grasshopper and then a sprinkler and stuff. Then the song Patio Lanterns quietly starts to play only long enough to recognize the song and give it a nice affect. Finally the guy turns on his ice capp covered christmas lights as a car drives in. Overall a great commercial, no annoying (or loud) noices, it makes sence, and you don't get sick of it. I think thats all for now, but I'd like to thank Nike and Budweiser for always making such good commercials.
-Ian

You can't tell me that's not real.

Does anything beat stupidity?

I just saw on the news a story about a guy in the states who paid for a 99 dollar purchase with a $200 George W Bush Bill (pictured above). Well I Yahoo!ed it and found this site. So in two cases, at least a year apart, some paid a cashier with a 200 dollar bill and the cashier took it. It just makes me laugh. Both the bill and the stupidity of the cashiers. (look at the serial number on the bill)
-Ian

Nice color (chocolate cherry) 

Unnatural but nice

It has come to my attention recently that i have a thing for purple hair. Now its nothing like a fetish or anything i just think that it looks good. Im really not sure exactly what it is about it that i find attractive. Maybe it is sort of sporty, or just different, im really not sure. But before all you girls (Oh and I dont think i specified but I am talking about only one girls) run out to get your hair died purple to impress me. Like belly shirts and spandex, purple hair is a privilege, not a right. For example, brittany spears + purple hair = not cool. But purple hair might work on say Eva Mendes or Jennifer Garner. And since i didnt make myself entirely clear, not just any purple hair, but the dark purple that you have to look sort of closely to realize that it is purple and not black or brown. If you look at that Jennifer Garner picture again (or for the first time) if you look at her hair it look sort of purple. Kind of like the colour above, but maybe with a little more red. That is kind of the color i like. So all you girls who have purple hair that looks nice, I think you, but to all you girls who have bad purple hair, i simply ask, Why?
-Ian

PS One of my friends (who shall go unnamed) recently died her hair purple, looks good.

Where is that bus?

Public transit, cheep, convenient, eviromentally friendly, and a real pain

Now not all of you will understand this, those who have ever riden a public transit thingy, mostly a bus, will get this. There you are on a way to meet someone or catch a show or something. you look up on the internet or the little map what bus you have to take and when you have to be at the point of pick up. Of course you are either new to the area or you havn't taken that bus or left at that time. Of course the time the bus comes is a little iffy because the stop that has a recorded time is several before or after your stop. So you figure an appropriate time to get there and leave a little in good time so you won't miss it. So off you walk to your bus stop (which of course is at least a block away) and you arrive several minutes earlier than you figured the bus would show up. but no matter what time you show up, there is always that nagging feeling, "What if i missed the bus?" Then you start questioning yourself, "If the bus leaves 3 stops back at 9:43, what if it's early and has alread gone past here at 9:44 rather than the 9:47 i had planned for?" and other worrysome thought. then you start leaning out into the street looking and hoping you will see the bus. after a couple minutes it always seems that the same bus heading the opposite direction comes by, then you start thinking, "Does the bus i want come before or after the bus going the other way?" By this time you have been standing there for 5 minutes but it has seemed like 10 or 15. After you see yourself being late for about the 10th time the bus finally shows up 2 blocks down and you wait for it to get to you. Your frantic wait is over. Then there is the wierd law of bus travel. If you are on a bus, you are sure that if you got off, you could walk and get to your destination faster, but if you are trying to get on a bus that is leaving a stop half a block from you, no matter how fast you run, you will never catch up. Now that we are all fed up with the inconvenience of the bus system, I will leave you with the one thing that makes every long time bus rider laugh, because we were all a new bus rider once. there you are on the bus travelling to a major stop (like say west ed mall in edmonton) where every bus stops and sits for at least a minute. Now who out there can say that the first time they pulled into a stop like that one that they were getting off at, they didn't pull the "next stop" rope. Nothing (in the busing world) brings a smile to my face faster then when I hear that 'ding' right before a major stop and I think of the first (and second) time I did the very same thing and felt stupid afterwards.
-Ian