I am America, and so can you

Stephen Colbert is America's last best hope.

Who else could say this with a straight face:

"Throughout the 1970s, white men were caricatured in “whitesploitation” films like Death Wish and Annie Hall."

Enjoy the weekend.

Blogging bits

Since it is summer, blogging has slowed to a crawl. A stop even. So, to tide you over until the snow starts flying again, some bits of blog, short ones:

-- I caught my first char on Sunday, after three years trying. He was small, but had hooked himself so bad, catch and release wasn't an option. I got blood all over my sunglasses trying to put him out of his misery.



-- Our son is so tall that when he went to the doctor yesterday, he was too tall for the baby measure they have. Joseph Too Tall fears nothing. He is standing and dancing, just not walking yet, but he started giving everyone high fives yesterday.

-- Tonight on APTN National News, I find a way to carry a slushie on camera for most of a story. Worst tasting slushie ever, I think they forgot the sugar. In related news, it went up to 23 degrees on Monday.

-- The Swedish military landed in force on the weekend. The poor guy I was talking to, the only words I said that he understood were "Mats Sundin". NHL, cutting through cultural barriers.

-- In the last two weeks I've seen a handful of CF-18's and the Swedish jets taking off from the airport. Wow... so loud, as I live next door to the airport.

-- I have a new talent, now I am going to be doing a little camera work to go with my on air stuff. The more skills I can add up, the better. News is all moving toward one medium. If you want to have a career in it, you better learn how to use all the tools. On that subject though, if you own a chisel, you aren't always a carver, so we'll see.

-- Saturday is Parks Day, my first solo shooting assignment. No bears please.

See you in September :)

Riccochets

It is here by popular demand, and by popular, I got one e-mail asking to see this video online.

There is a video out there on the internet that is very famous as being the sickest goddamn thing you can ever see. I'm going to spell it out, because I don't really want the traffic that would bring.... let's call it

T-W-O G-I-R-L-S O-N-E C-U-P

Yes, that video. I've seen it. It is gross. Very gross. So gross that it inspired a response, followed by many.

That is the riccochet. This video was originally posted to promote a pornographic movie. After going through the mass filter of the interweb, a popular trend emerged.

Show the sick video to friends and loved ones, and tape their response. It is safe to watch at work, and doesn't show any sick stuff. Just people being grossed out, which is good clean fun for all.

You have to love a medium that can reform a concept like that into something like this.

My favourite hip-hop group, the one and one and one and only hip-hop band The Roots gathered around the computer to watch the video. Kermit the Frog has a famous response up there as well, but Kermit, well, Kermit has strange tastes.

So, me being a bit of a sadist, showed that infamous video to my lovely partner, taped her response, and put it up here for us all to enjoy. She does say a few bad words though, but you would too:

Give a hoot, or get hurt

More PEI goodness.

This from www.cbc.ca/pei

A 21-year-old Summerside man landed in the hospital early Wednesday morning after he fell out of a moving vehicle.

RCMP said the man was a passenger in a van coming home from a beach party in Chelton, between Summerside and Borden. Police said he opened the van door to throw away a beer bottle and fell onto the road.

He suffered major injuries to his feet and head and remains in hospital. RCMP said he wasn't wearing a seatbelt.

The incident is under investigation and charges may be laid.

Send in the public relations department

Thank goodness for the good PR people at my employer. They put out a press release detailing something I think is a big deal.

If you live in Manitoba or west of there, and use Shaw Cable to get your TV, your listings for APTN are three hours off. We give them a western feed, they refuse to use it.

This is where I would start a nasty rant, but seeing as I am employed by said broadcaster, and work in news, it isn't very professional for me to go off like nuts.

Our PR department put out a press release, and as they are the one paid to speak for the network, here is what they had to say:

APTN ADVISORY:
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING THE APTN BROADCAST
SIGNAL AND SCHEDULING IN THE WESTERN PROVINCES

Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) would like to alert its viewers in the
western provinces to recent changes in service delivery which may be causing
discrepancies with posted scheduling information.

On October 2, 2006, APTN launched a third dedicated broadcast feed to better
accommodate its viewers in the western provinces. The new time-delayed west feed
(based on Pacific Time rather than Eastern Time) was implemented by APTN to ensure
that its programming is seen at appropriate times across the country. This enhancement also facilitated the planned addition of unique programming, more relevant to viewers in the western region.

APTN has made every reasonable effort to inform cable and satellite providers serving
the western provinces of these enhancements and has made numerous requests that
they discontinue use of the APTN East signal and instead provide the more appropriate
APTN West signal to viewers situated west of the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border.

Although some cable providers have accommodated this request, unfortunately, Shaw
Communications, the company that is accountable to APTN’s principal western viewers
stated that as of April, 2008 it would switch all of its systems to the APTN East Feed,effectively discontinuing the West Feed service that it had started to carry in some of its markets.

Because the APTN West feed is the appropriate feed for the western provinces,
scheduling information is distributed to service providers, on-line and print publications BASED ON THE WEST FEED. This has resulted in a three-hour discrepancy in
scheduling information for viewers in the west who are currently receiving the incorrect East broadcast signal.

APTN regrets any inconvenience to affected viewers and encourages them to contact
their cable/satellite provider directly if they are currently experiencing these scheduling issues. Viewers are also encouraged to obtain updated scheduling information directly from the APTN website.

A political endorsement

Although no one will care, and it will not make a difference as I am

1 - Canadian
2 - As far away from America as you can get and still be in Canada
3 - Not a voter



I am officially endorsing Barack Obama in his bid to become President of our neighbours to the far south. What did Senator Obama have to do to become the officially endorsed candidate of yours truly....

Wasn't much really, he just had to not be the other guy...



Do not let his kindly old man schtick fool you. This man is the Devil. Not like in the Satan kind of way, but in the way that The Waterboy's Mom called everyone the Devil.... Dick Clark for example.



I was frightened enough by his belief that the war in Iraq could go on 100 years, but this is what really made me think. Move On.org (hardly unbiased, but they do have John Cusack) put out this list. Click here for footnotes.

Here are 10 things you likely didn't know about John McCain (with footnotes):



1 - John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws.1

Why do we never see photos of Dr. King smiling by the way.... I bet he did a lot.



2 -According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."2

Buchanan worked for Nixon.... he would know.



His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.3

You'd think that getting beaten half to death and suffering in Vietnam would give a guy some empathy...



McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."4

Here is a hint... NEVER search Roe Vs Wade on Google Images.



The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.5

Kids with guns, another Google Image no no no.



He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.6



Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."7

These people who sit with Ted Kennedy, day after day, getting a chill over someone's temper.



McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.8



McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult."9



He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.10

There you go. Vote for Barack Obama my American friends, he isn't the other guy.

I also endorse Arrowroot Cookies, Battlestar Galactica and Grover of the Muppets.

New Music

Andrew Scott may be the most underrated drummer in Canada, but don't you just want to wipe the smirk off of Murphy's face... the hard way.

Two quick ones for yas. Weezer and Sloan both have new albums, check out some quick clips I ripped off from the Globe and Mail:

OK, I can't link to the clips, due to their Adobe player and my utter futility at doing anything on the internet that I hadn't perfect before 2003.



But go here and see for yourself.

I'm liking the Sloan one, seems they have scaled back their sound a little.

"I don't want no po-lice
I don't want no po-lice"

In music related news, Alianait has Dave Bidini... cool.