Staged or Not? Bruno vs. Eminem
Published June 2, 2009 @ 11:48 in My 2 Cents

Marshall Bruce Mathers III has been in our lives for a decade now, only we know him better as Eminem. I'll admit I'm a fan. I think The Marshall Mathers LP is exceptional, and I was sure to catch him on his tour with Limp Bizkit to promote the album. Yeah, I saw Limp Bizkit in concert. I'll admit that, too.

One thing Eminem always lacked was a sense of humour. Time and time again, he took things too seriously, over-reacting when he'd be better served laughing things off. He would benefit from taking a page from the Justin Timberlake handbook.

I PVR'd the MTV Movie Awards and watched it last night. The most buzz-worthy moment was when Sacha Baron Cohen's character Bruno, dressed in feathers and a thong, flew through the air, landing on Eminem. Eminem looked disgusted and promptly left with his entourage in tow. Here's some video of Bruno vs. Eminem.

The question is, was it staged? Some sources say it was all staged. Some say Eminem didn't realize how revealing Bruno would be and was legitimately pissed off, leaving in sincere anger.

What say you?

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Inefficient, Socially Awkward, and Least User-Friendly Award
Published May 11, 2009 @ 17:28 in My 2 Cents, Technology

I hate voice mail. My voice mail at work tells the caller not to leave me a voice mail because I don't check voice mail. If it's important, send me an email. I'll check that, likely within the hour, but I'll leave that red light on my phone glowing for weeks and weeks.

I just read a Slate article that agrees with me.

The bill of particulars is damning. Unlike your e-mail inbox, voice mail is impossible to skim: If your phone tells you that you've got five new messages, you've got no choice but to listen to at least a bit of each one before you can decide what to do with it. In a user-interface decision that I suspect might violate some subclause of the Geneva Conventions, your voice-mail system insists on making you listen to the same instructional prompts between each message. But wait, is it 9 to archive and 7 to skip, or is that the way the work phone does it? I couldn't tell you, because every voice-mail system seems to have settled on different numbers to activate its main functions. It's an absurdly backward mode of human-computer interaction.

My biggest complaint about voice mail is that it forces me to leave my natural process. I have to leave the PC and focus on recorded speech, which I find to be very inefficient and not at all user-friendly. I'll take an Email or IM, thank you very much.

Voice mail is dead.

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I Feel Like I'm Missing Out As A Non-Trekker
Published May 5, 2009 @ 15:53 in My 2 Cents

I'm not in the club, but it's times like these that I wish I was. All around me there's a buzz amongst the Trekkers. They're talking about the new J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movie opening this weekend.

I tried, but I could never get into it. I'm sure I'm missing out, but what's a guy to do? You either dig something or you don't. You can't force it.

You're not in the club, but you wish you were, because they all look so damn happy.

I felt the same way when the Lord of the Rings films were coming out. I also felt this way on Easter weekend.

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Indie-Mainstream Blogs Never Scaled in Toronto
Published March 30, 2009 @ 16:07 in My 2 Cents

I enjoy following Scroll on Twitter because he's always thinking aloud about the new media and traditional media and how the two should coexist. Earlier today, he made the following tweet:

I will peg the current number of active Twittererers in the Greater Toronto Area at 8,000; too high/low/what?

I actually think 8,000 is a pretty good guess. I took Scroll's opening and threw him a question I've been pondering since September. How many active blogs are there in the GTA? Scroll responded:

@torontomike no way the number in Toronto who actively maintained a decent hobby blog ever passed 500; trumped by Facebook; now must be <100

Scroll thinks there are less than a 100 active bloggers in the GTA. Why so few?

@torontomike always lots of fiddling or niches but the # doing it as an indie-mainstream "broadcast" never scaled here; maybe mommy bloggers

I'm glad I hedged my bets by picking up TorontoMommy.com.

It's time for a census. GTA bloggers, post your links below!

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The Cadillac Fairview Gift Card Scam
Published March 11, 2009 @ 09:26 in My 2 Cents

My mom received a Cadillac Fairview Gift Card as a birthday gift a couple of years ago. You can use these gift cards as cash at any Cadillac Fairview Shopping Centre. Last weekend, my mom tried to use her gift card at Sherway Gardens.

I say she tried to use her Cadillac Fairview Gift Card because she was actually unable to use it. When the cashier entered it in the system to learn the balance, it came up as $0. Assuming there was some kind of mistake, I took it to the information desk at Sherway Gardens to restore the funds.

We were told that Cadillac Fairview deducts $2 a month for every month the card is not used, after the initial 16 months. If you buy your friend or loved one a $20 Cadillac Fairview Gift Card, and your friend or loved one fails to use it for a couple of years, Cadillac Fairview essentially keeps your money won't accept the gift card.

I say gift cards are the same as cash. A $20 gift card should always be worth $20, even if it sits in your wallet for a couple of years. What's the incentive to buy a gift card with "use it or lose it" small print?

Do your friend or loved one a favour. Give them cash instead.

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Bobby Jindal May Be Kenneth From 30 Rock, But That's Not My Pet Peeve
Published March 2, 2009 @ 21:03 in My 2 Cents

The Republican Party in the USA has been singing the praises of Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. Some in that circle see Jindal as the Republican answer to Barack Obama. I first learned all about Jindal recently on 60 Minutes, and he sounds a great deal more George Dubya Bush than Barack Obama. Yikes!

Jindal delivered the GOP response to President Obama's address to Congress, and I was interested in reading what the pundits thought of his performance. They thought he was lousy, with a speaking pattern somewhere between Mr. Rogers and Kenneth from 30 Rock, but my beef isn't with Jindal. My beef is with news sites that break articles up into several pages.

That's my biggest web pet peeve. I wanted to read Howard Kurtz's article in the Washington Post and it was spread out over five pages. They do it to increase page visits and ad impressions, but it just pisses off the reader. At least it pisses me off. Throw it all on one page and let me scroll down, dammit!

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How Should Newspapers Make Money Online?
Published February 17, 2009 @ 12:35 in My 2 Cents

I actually feel sorry for the newspaper industry. I don't know about you, but I read almost all of my news now online and I don't pay a cent for any of it. I want it all, I want it instantly and I want it for free.

When people Google Andy Barrie's name, looking for information as to when he'll return to CBC Radio One, my blog entry on the subject is ranked #2. One of the few mainstream press articles on the subject belongs to the Globe and Mail, only they've hidden their article behind a form. You can't read the Globe article on Andy Barrie's leave of absence without buying 30 days access to it for $4.95 + tax. You can buy four articles for 30 days for $17.95 + tax.

At first this angered me. I don't want to spend over $5 just to read a single article online. The web is about articles being online forever and for free, right? And isn't $5 steep for a single article to be available to me for only 30 days?

I don't really know how newspapers are supposed to make money online in this day and age. I know I didn't pay the $5, and I'm not sure how many people out there would. In fact, just having the article offline will likely push people to other newspapers.

How should newspapers earn an honest buck in this age of the Internet, or are they S.O.L?

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Don Sanderson Dies
Published January 2, 2009 @ 13:22 in My 2 Cents

Whitby Dunlops' defenceman Don Sanderson is dead.

Sanderson, a student at York University, and a native of Port Perry, got into a fight with Corey Fulton of the Brantford Blast in the third period their game back on December 12. Sanderson lost his helmet during the altercation and both players crashed to the ice with Sanderson's head striking the ice. He's been in a coma and on life support until he passed away earlier today.

I've always enjoyed a good hockey fight. I loved seeing Wendel take on Probert. I enjoyed the many Domi battles I watched on television. Fights got me on my feet and got my heart pumping. They've always been a part of hockey, so I never really questioned the practice, until very recently.

My six year old son loved the Wendel Clark tribute video set to Aerosmith's Dream On. His favourite parts were the scenes of Clark punching the crap out of somebody. James and I participate in a "learn to play hockey" program every Saturday, and once he was in full uniform he'd want to fight me. This prompted a chat between us which made me realize how barbaric and ludicrous it is that fighting is an accepted part of hockey.

Try explaining to a six year old that he can't fight in hockey, but NHLers and other pros, like Don Sanderson, can. Explain to him that he would be kicked out of the league for doing what we celebrate Wendel Clark for doing. Explain to him that fighting is wrong as you watch the Wendel Clark tribute video for the 17th time.

You almost never see a fight during the Junior tournament taking place in Ottawa right now, yet it's some of the best hockey you'll see all year. Hockey is a game of skill, a game of speed, a glorious game of dekes, passes, shots, goals, clean hits and great saves. Hockey wouldn't miss fighting, and neither would we. It's time for the sport to evolve.

Banning fighting in hockey won't bring back Don Sanderson, but it will prevent the next senseless death. And it makes sense. Just ask my son.

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Everything's Amazing, Nobody's Happy
Published December 15, 2008 @ 19:28 in My 2 Cents

Twenty years ago, most of my music was on cassette tapes. When I wanted to take my music with me, I'd actually put the tape in a dual cassette deck boombox, cue it up, place a cued up blank cassette in the other deck and simultaneously press play and record. Then, when my song was finished, I'd pause the blank tape and cue up another song in the other deck. It was a lengthy procedure, and the end result was maybe 60 minutes of music I could throw in my Walkman. I then had to listen to the music in the order I put them, because fast-forwarding was such a pain in the ass.

Today we have it awesome. I've got hundreds and hundreds of complete albums digitized and one click away. I can throw together playlists in seconds, play them in whatever order I want, or shuffle 'em. I can jump around the song, see the album cover and I can have thousands of songs on a device a great deal smaller than my Walkman ever was. It's amazing.

I can share similar tales about phones, the Internet, email, television and banking. Everything is amazing, but nobody's happy. The more we have, the more we want. The quicker we get it, the more demanding we become.

Louis CK says it below, way better than I ever could.

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Winnipeg Jets Mulligan
Published December 12, 2008 @ 19:29 in My 2 Cents

I sometimes wonder what the poor Winnipeg Jets might have done had they not shared a division with the mighty Edmonton Oilers of the 1980s. The Jets were always an exciting team, and very likable. In 1996, Jets fans were dealt the worst blow imaginable when they saw their team pack up and head south for Phoenix.

Every day it seems there's another article about how bad things are in Phoenix for the Coyotes. Here's one such article from David Shoalts in the Globe and Mail.

"I don't know how they can sustain the losses," one former governor said."The team loses so much money you can't sell it. If I were offered the team for a dollar, I'd say no because you can't fix it."

Let's face it, hockey doesn't work in Phoenix. It's also not working in Florida, Nashville or Atlanta. It worked in Winnipeg, however, where we're born and bred to worship the sport. The fact Phoenix has Winnipeg's franchise is sinful, and this wrong needs to be righted.

Let's call a mulligan and move the Coyotes back to Winnipeg where they belong. Bring back the Jets.

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