Meeting Il Duce
Published February 26, 2010 @ 18:25 in Miscellaneous

It's been a crazy day, and soon I'll be playing hockey and watching hockey. But before I logoff for a bit, I've got to share an interesting story about Il Duce.

The story of Il Duce started at the old HumbleHoward.com, a blog that's no longer active but still online so I can link to old entries like this. If you click on over and read the comments, you'll see how I first encountered Il Duce.

Here's his first comment over there regarding the old Humble and Fred 20th anniversary podcast.

Gee sounds like fun!! Getting together on a Saturday and listening to two old farts whose best radio days have passed them by. Reminiscing about the good old days surrounded by a bunch of Trekkie losers who never get out of their houses.

Speaking of fools who is Mike to have his own blog... Toronto Mike, give me a break. He's nothing more than a radio host wanabee whose latched himself on to two other former morning host losers.

Ya I'll be there and then head over to the Bloor Viaduct and do the swan dive.

Il Duce came back a couple of hours later with this comment.

Better yet why don't you have that technical genius Wyle E. Coyote, I mean Toronto 'with no' Mike, replay your podcast on loud speakers every day at the Bloor Viaduct.

I'm sure the Communist Toronto Councillors would love this, so they can remove those beautiful glass barriers. And any jumper that would hear your old screeching voices would run for their lives.

Il Duce's comments became a humourous reference point for Humble and I, and it even made it into the 20th anniversary podcast. Humble read the comment aloud.

Last month, Il Duce returned on this blog as "Mississauga". You can read his comment in this entry.

@T.O. Mike

I see you're making lots of friends Mike.

And tell that hack HumHow he ruined my bit when he mispronounced my name during the Anniversary Podacast in May. It's not 'Il Deuce' but rather 'Il Duce(DO-che)' as in Mussolini.

What is he Bania from Seinfeld? I give him gold and he chopped it up.

Tell him The Boom sounds great but he needs Freddie with him. Loving you.

Today at lunch, I decided to try a nice looking Italian restaurant for the first time. I walk in and 10 seconds later a gentleman introduces himself. It's Il Duce.

Il Duce was very nice, seemed sincerely happy to see me, complimented the blog and ensured a permanent place in my heart by presenting me with a complimentary homemade meat lasagna for me to take home.

If there are no entries tomorrow, the lasagna was poisoned and you should probably alert the authorities.

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Justifying DVD Thievery
Published February 19, 2010 @ 14:18 in Miscellaneous

This graphic is making the rounds. It reminds me of a rant I threw down in 2004.

My friend lent me his Hulk DVD which I watched this morning. When I started the DVD three or four coming attractions began to play. Immediately I pressed the MENU button but this function was disabled. There was also no way to advance or fast forward to escape these commercials. Essentially, I had to sit through almost five minutes of crap I had no interest in before I could advance to the main menu to play the movie. It was extremely irritating and had me cursing Universal Studios before the 137 minute movie even began.

If you're buying or downloading pirated movies, this will make you feel better.

Click here to enlarge

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Maestro's Message of Love
Published February 14, 2010 @ 13:13 in Miscellaneous

From my hugely unsuccessful Toronto-Centric Valentine's Day Cards collection, here's Maestro Fresh-Wes's message of love to y'all.

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No More Excuses for Stinking Like a Man
Published February 10, 2010 @ 10:50 in Miscellaneous

Dove thinks I stink. At least I assume so, because they just sent me a whole bunch of their new Dove Men+Care products.

Here's what came with the nice smelling beauty products.

Dove MEN+CARE is a campaign about the lives of real men. Research commissioned by Dove MEN+CARE found that 80% of Canadian men said that they think they are stereotyped and falsely portrayed in advertising. Dove MEN+CARE is a campaign and new line of products designed to recognize that through a man's journey and life experiences, he reaches a point where he is comfortable in his own skin.

And here I was thinking they were just trying to sell soap!

I must confess, the only beauty care product that touches my skin is a bar of soap in the shower. I'm not even sure what to do with all of this...

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Countries That Are Not Using the Metric System
Published February 9, 2010 @ 15:54 in Miscellaneous

Metric is more than a band. It's a whole system. Canada converted to the metric system in 1970 and today only a few countries haven't adopted this system.

Here's a map showing countries using the metric system and those not.

Makes you wonder what the hold up is with our neighbours to the south.

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Groundhog Day is Junk Science
Published February 2, 2010 @ 15:24 in Miscellaneous

Today is Groundhog Day, and every morning radio or television show felt obliged to tell you whether Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania, Shubenacadie Sam in Nova Scotia or Wiarton Willie saw their respective shadows.

I've peeled back the curtain to look at the science behind these supposed indicators, and I've come to the conclusion that it's nothing more than junk science. You cannot gauge the amount of winter remaining based on whether a rodent saw its shadow or not.

Don't believe the hype.

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Toronto Photographers Shoot Avatar / Profile Pics
Published February 1, 2010 @ 11:04 in Miscellaneous

Last Friday night, during what was the coldest night of the decade, I met Terri and Mark from Light Monkey Photography. We met at a very cool old brick building in the middle of a park in Liberty Village and they shot me (with a camera, not a gun).

Light Monkey Photography is diversifying their offerings, and now create photo avatars for use in social media profiles, like Twitter and Facebook. Here are some shots of me, taken outside in -35°C conditions.

Terri and Mike were fantastic to work with and they're very accommodating and reasonably priced. Whether you need avatar pics, corporate head shots or just want to update the family pictorial, I urge you to contact them at info@lightmonkey.ca or 647 342 3603.

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The Interweb Lies
Published January 30, 2010 @ 16:20 in Miscellaneous

Neil Young has never won a Grammy. I know this for a fact because Neil Young might just be my favourite singer / songwriter of all-time.

Neil was honoured at the pre-Grammy MusiCares gala as their Person of the Year for his artistry in music and philanthropic contributions. I did a little reading about the event in which several artist covered Neil's biggest hits. I went to Google News, typed in Neil Young and started reading.

That's how I found this article. Below is a screen cap of the page in which it clearly states that Neil Young wasn't the only big name artist to never win a Grammy. It says The Beatles also never won a Grammy.

That factoid surprised me. I instantly tweeted about it.

It didn't take long for people to call bullshit on my erroneous tweet. That article was dead wrong. The Beatles have actually won 7 Grammy awards.

The interweb lies. Consider yourself warned.

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Laura DiBattista vs. Lara Di Battista
Published January 21, 2010 @ 22:15 in Miscellaneous

If you thought spelling Mroczkowski was tough, try spelling Lara Di Battista's name.

When I wrote about her leaving Citytv, I spelled her name Lara Di Battista, having seen it spelled that way on a couple of web pages. Her Wikipedia page, however, clearly refers to her as Laura DiBattista.

Does anyone know if it's Laura DiBattista or Lara Di Battista?

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Donate Now to Help Haiti
Published January 18, 2010 @ 15:12 in Miscellaneous

To make a personal donation to the Canadian Red Cross or to make a donation on behalf of an organization, click here.

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