July 26, 2004
5th Anniversary Weekend
Friday night Carole and I saw The Bourne Supremacy, then went downtown to see our friend Gerald Varga do a comedy act at an open mic. Gerald's an actor and thought he'd try his hand at comedy too - well, he was the star of the show Friday night - hopefully we'll be seing and hearing lots more from him!
Saturday was my 5th Wedding Anniversary. Carole and I spent the scorcher in doors mostly (it was actually only 33 Saturday... but had been 37.5 Friday afternoon!) but took a couple of hours our to go to the Newport Village Itallian Days festival where we saw grape stomping, accordian players, Ferarri's and lots of Itallian culture while chowing down on Itallian sausage and peppers. We also took a walk across the street to the ocean inlet where we chilled for a few minutes and enjoyed the view. After getting back home and having another shower (a sticky day!) we went out for a really nice dinner and shared an even nicer bottle of wine. We then rented The Butterfly Effect (really good movie!) and chillaxed at home fore the evening.
Sunday we did some chores and gardening, I got a haircut (that's always so depressing...) then we set off on a Sunday afternoon drive. We explored lots of nooks and crannies that we hadn't been to before, and finally found ourselves at Deep Cove. Actually, it was on my agenda to find the Deep Cove Boat Rentals place and get a price list, but we couldn't find the place... I don't think it's there anymore. After that, we made our way to North Vancouver to checkout what has changed in the almost 4 years since we lived there, and while re-discovering lower Lonsdale we found that this was Jamaican Days weekend! We never did find parking, but we ended up at a nice new ocean park walkway near the North Shore auto mall where we sat on a park bence and peacefully gazed across the harbour at Vancouver city centre.
It was a really nice and relaxing weekend - a great way to forget about the daily grind!
July 19, 2004
Bowen Island weekend
We spent this weekend on Bowen Island - we spent one night on the water and the next in a tent. We got out in the boat lots, spent time with family, saw the sights, drank lots of beer, and soaked up the sun. As soon as we get the pictures developed I'll post some, and write all about our outtings.
July 16, 2004
Couple arrested for wearing anti-Bush t-shirts
Couple arrested for wearing anti-Bush t-shirts
Charleston Gazette | Submitted by: Jonny Plasma
"Police took Nicole and Jeff Rank away in handcuffs from the [July 4] event, which was billed as a presidential appearance, not a campaign rally. They were wearing T-shirts that read, 'Love America, Hate Bush.' Spectators who wore pro-Bush T-shirts and Bush-Cheney campaign buttons were allowed to stay... Since Bush took office in early 2001, people have been banned from displaying anti-Bush messages at dozens of Bush appearances across the country. In September, the ACLU filed a federal lawsuit against the Secret Service, seeking an injunction against the Bush administration for segregating protesters at his public appearances. The Secret Service agreed that such censorship was wrong, said Witold Walczak, one of the lawyers that filed the lawsuit. 'They had an internal memo dated September 2002, saying they couldn't treat protesters differently or worse' than anyone else at a presidential appearance, Walczak said. 'The judge said any agent responsible for doing so could be held liable for damages.'" [We'll see.]
July 09, 2004
Nickelback Sucks
First and foremost, thanks to 'smokingbong' for bringing this to my attention - this is hillarious! I know it has been going around for quite some time, but I just got wind of it last night, and have been showing it off ever since.
It's two different Nickelback songs - one in the left speaker, and one in the right speaker. Other than the 'words' to the songs being different, they're functionally identical - there isn't a single dissonant note in the whole thing. They start at the same time, end at the same time, the bridge, chorus. verses. intro, outro, all identical - and it's freekin' hillarious. Two big hits, one simple formula.
Once you've listened to it a few times, and have had time to shake the disbelief out of your head, pull up your volume control mixer and do the old 'mute the left then mute the right' routine... it's a blast - make your own Nickelback song by interchanging parts of the two. It's certainly good for a laugh, even if it IS a sign of how pathetic and predictable the industry has become...
July 02, 2004
Fahrenheit 9/11
Finally saw the movie. It had been out since last friday, but every showing was soldoutover the weekend, so we finally got in to see it Tuesday. GOOD Movie. I absolutely loved it, and I want to see it again already.
I think everyone - not just Americans - should see this film. The Bush dictatorship affects us all.
I could make a massive blog entry out of this topic, but I'll save it for later... I'm sure the topics are bound to come up! Basically, I love Michael Moore. I've read all his books, seen all his movies, and support him 100% - and I ain't even American... (I don't know why I always use slang/bad english - a la 'ain't' - whenever I mention Americans... freudian slip I guess).
Checkout more about the movie at www.fahrenheit911.com
and if you've got some time on your hands, and you want to laugh hard, think lots, and cry a little, you've GOT to check out the 150 best ads section ofwww.bushin30seconds.org. I've only watched the first 30 or 40, but MAN - it blows me away.
I'm not even going to tell you anything about the movie - I'd love to, but I want everyone to go see it first. We'll talk lots after that, I promise.