So, yesterday my dad and I ventured forth to go see another concert. Concerts are sort of our thing. Some people fish or hunt with their dads, I go see concerts with mine. We've seen the likes of Metallica, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne together. This time, we took part in the music of blues-rock guitarist George Thorogood. Oh yeah, and the rest of his band, The Destroyers.

For those of you who haven't heard any of George Thorogood's music, please direct yourself to this handy music video. OK, now that you know what kind of music he plays, I can continue.

We knew coming in that the crowd was going to be fairly light since they only had about a quarter of the arena seats open (from the blue line to the boards) and even then there were still a lot of empty seats when the show started. However, the floor area which was general admission was packed with a very diverse crowd. The crowd ranged from people my age right through to people in their 60's. I also saw a couple of Hell's Angels milling around, enjoying the music. While the crowd was fairly light, it was an absolutely fantastic crowd to be a part of. Everyone was full of energy, extremely into the concert and were all big fans of Thorogood. Everyone was singing along to every song. Good times.

ANYWAYS...

The opening act came out to get the already warm crowd...even more warmed up I guess. They were a local band out of Massachusetts who's name I can't remember for the life of me right now. I guess the only really important part of their set was that they were actually quite good. Their opening song involved a banjo and an accordion. To me, that's a mark of a winning band. Their sound was a nice mix of CCR and Phish, nice and mellow with a southern feel to it. Even my dad, who typically doesn't like any opening act no matter what got really into them. They got a nice reponse from the crowd and had some fun on stage.

So, that band finishes and gets their stuff off stage and the lights go down. A lone guitar is playing a blues-rock riff and George Thorogood walks out onto the stage followed by The Destroyers. They waste no time getting into their set, starting off with "Rock Party". They came out on the stage with tremendous energy that you could really feel in their playing. Even the solos just had a little something extra that put them over the top. This energy whipped the already excited crowd into a frenzy, which caused the band to get more excited. It was an excercise in feedback loops.

Throughout the set, they played their bigger, more well known songs like "Bad to the Bone", "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" and "I Drink Alone". They also played some of my favourites like "Get a Haircut and Get a Real Job" and "You Talk Too Much". They even covered some of Johnny Cash's material, to the delight of the crowd. After playing about an hour and ten minutes, they leave the stage, but the crowd wanted more. For not even a quarter arena, the crowd was extremely loud. The band came back out on stage and played another three songs, then left again. At this point, both my dad and I thought the show was over and were giving a well deserved standing ovation. But something was amiss. The house lights weren't coming on. I've developed a rule at concerts, never leave until the house lights are on because you don't know what you're going to miss. Sure, enough the band came back on stage for a second set of encores. By this point, a number of people had left thinking the show was over, so there was even more space in the crowd. The high energy music combined with the energy of the crowd saw the floor area and the stands turn into an impromptu dance floor. People were dancing in the aisles, in the seats, on the floor....everywhere. They finished up the set by playing O Canada (with the house lights on just to confuse us), with everyone singing along.

This concert was a complete surprise to me. Nothing that happened was expected, from the calibre of the warm up act, the energy of the otherwise small crowd and the great show put on by the headliners. It ranks among the best concerts I've ever seen, too. If you ever get the chance to see George Thorogood and the Destroyers, definitely take it. You won't be disappointed.

Since its been like three months since my last news post, I figured I'd write something here. Just to you know...change the scenery and stuff. I might write a concert review for George Thorogood here after I see him play on the 29th. Only time will tell.

Hey NG,

I was having a conversation a little bit earlier this morning at work and a question came up that no one really agreed upon. So, I've decided to ask all of the three people who read this what they think.

If you had the choice, would you rather be kicked in the head or in the groin? You don't have any other alternative. Its either a headshot or a nutshot.

Choose wisely.

Now, I've seen a lot of movies. Criticker.com says I've seen around 800 of them. Drawing on the inspiration of that top 50 movies user blog, I've decided to do my top 100. Here they are.

1. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
2. The Godfather (1972)
3. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
4. The Blues Brothers (1980)
5. The Evil Dead (1981)
6. Juno (2007)
7. Casablanca (1942)
8. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)
9. Apocalypse Now (2001)
10. Vacation (1983)
11. Cool Hand Luke (1967)
12. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
13. The Breakfast Club (1985)
14. Chinatown (1974)
15. Gladiator (2000)
16. Downfall (2004)
17. Taxi Driver (1976)
18. No Country for Old Men (2007)
19. So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993)
20. MASH (1970)
21. Boyz N the Hood (1991)
22. Jaws (1975)
23. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
24. Monster's Ball (2001)
25. Monsters, Inc. (2001)
26. Braveheart (1995)
27. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
28. Pleasantville (1998)
29. The Great Escape (1963)
30. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
31. Dazed and Confused (1993)
32. Rocky (1976)
33. Alien (1979)
34. Airplane! (1980)
35. The Boondock Saints (1999)
36. The Emperor's New Groove (2000)
37. Young Frankenstein (1974)
38. The Matrix (1999)
39. Batman (1989)
40. Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
41. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
42. The Departed (2006)
43. Wayne's World (1992)
44. Goldfinger (1964)
45. Blazing Saddles (1974)
46. Life is Beautiful (1997)
47. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
48. March of the Penguins (2005)
49. Stalag 17 (1953)
50. Platoon (1986)
51. The Sting (1973)
52. Bowling for Columbine (2002)
53. Fight Club (1999)
54. Crash (2004)
55. Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987)
56. Ghostbusters (1984)
57. The Shining (1980)
58. Animal House (1978)
59. Team America: World Police (2004)
60. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
61. Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
62. American History X (1998)
63. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
64. Return of the Jedi (1983)
65. The Godfather: Part II (1974)
66. Super Troopers (2001)
67. The Big Lebowski (1998)
68. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
69. A Christmas Story (1983)
70. The Fog of War (2003)
71. Army of Darkness (1992)
72. Falling Down (1993)
73. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
74. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
75. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
76. Being John Malkovich (1999)
77. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
78. Pi (1998)
79. Dr. No (1962)
80. The Simpsons Movie (2007)
81. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
82. Finding Nemo (2003)
83. Hitler: The Rise of Evil (2003)
84. Jurassic Park (1993)
85. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
86. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
87. Misery (1990)
88. Rain Man (1988)
89. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
90. Goodfellas (1990)
91. Hotel Rwanda (2004)
92. The Princess Bride (1987)
93. Ocean's Eleven (2001)
94. Casino (1995)
95. Dogma (1999)
96. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
97. Mystic River (2003)
98. Seven (1995)
99. Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
100. Empire Records (1995)

Discuss.

PS...just for shits and giggles, here are my 10 worst movies:

1. Over the Top (1987)
2. Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life(2003)
3. Anaconda (1997)
4. The Master of Disguise (2002)
5. Envy (2004)
6. The Running Man (1987)
7. Barb Wire (1996)
8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993)
9. Last Action Hero (1993)
10. Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)

The following words rhyme with "blog"

Agog
Analog
Ants-on-a-Log*
Bog
Clog
Cog
Catalog
Dialogue
Dog
Egg nog
Fog
Frog
Groundhog
Hog
Ideologue
Jog
Kellogg
Leap frog
Pollywog
Prague
Smog
Snog
Sog
Tagalog
Unimog
Log**
Flog**
Monologue**
Grog**
Slog**
Pog**
Prologue**
Epilogue**
Tog**

* Its hyphenated so it counts.
**Added after seeing them posted in comments

So, a couple days ago, I saw the most messed up and really, all around awesome concert I've ever seen...GWAR. For those of you who don't know who they are, check out their bio page. Now that everyone is acquainted, I'll describe what I saw, heard and had done to me. Most likely in chronological order, too!

I get to the club where they're playing about 15 minutes before the doors open. While waiting in line, I get my "I can drink" wristband, proving I'm over 19 and can have a beer. I get in, do the whole coat check thing because its cold and stuff outside and make my way towards the concert area. Before heading down to the floor, I grab a beer at the bar and wander around for a bit. I finish my drink and decide that its time to get close to the stage or at least in the general vicinity of the mosh pit.

After about 10-15 minutes of standing around, the first of two opening acts comes on. It was a band from Toronto called The End. They were actually fairly decent. They had a nice heavy sound and did some cool things with a megaphone. And since I'm a sucker for megaphones, they were good in my books. The crowd wasn't too into them, a lot of bobbing heads and what not. The mosh pit for the most part was calm. This allowed to girls to get into the centre of the pit and take their shirts off. During the middle of a song, the singer of The End just says "holy shit, check that out" and points to the mosh pit area. And there they are, two girls (good looking, no less) are jumping around with no shirts on. They got (and deserved) a nice round of applause. After the song, the singer mentioned that he loves boobies, which prompted the girls to kiss eachother and eachother's boobs. It was awesome.

They finish their set and haul off their equipment, making way for the next band to come on, Three Inches of Blood. After a short intermission, they came on and started the show. This band was more well known in the crowd and as such, had a much more frenzied atmosphere on the floor. The mosh pit started to pick up, which was nice and the music was really good. Definitely have no complaints about their set...it was hard, fast and kick-ass. At this point, I was already starting to feel sore, so I knew I was in for one hell of a beating once the main act got on stage.

As the time for GWAR to get on stage approaches, more and more people come into the floor area, making it VERY crowded. I managed to stake out a spot fairly close to the stage, near one of the larger mosh pits. As the road crew was doing sound checks, the crowd started getting edgy and the pushing started. The crowd ebbed back and forth, all while cheering "GWAR! GWAR! GWAR!", I knew I was in for a special treat.

Now, at this point, I should probably mention that most of us were wearing white t-shirts. There is a very good reason for this. You'll find out what that reason is a little later on in this ramble. The lights go down, smoke machines come on and Beefcake the Mighty, the bassist walks onto the stage. I couldn't actually believe what I was seeing as the rest of the band, fronted by Oderus Urungus took their places on stage and lead off with what I believe was "Penguin Attack". Their sound equipment wasn't that good...but the spectacle more than made up for it. During the end of the song, a guy dressed up as the Pope comes out and "cuts" himself open, spraying blood into the crowd. This is why everyone (including myself) was wearing a white t-shirt. To get covered in blood as a sort of trophy of the concert. When the blood started spraying, the crowd crushed forward to get covered in it. Unfortunately, I only managed to get a few drops on my face and none on my still white shirt.

But...all that was to quickly change. Just after the Pope left, they brought out a fire hose that drenched the entre floor area in blood. My face got covered in blood (which looked really badass) and my shirt was now a shade of red. The song ends, and the crowd goes wild. Horns were being thrown around like...whatever people throw around a lot of. The next few songs didn't involve blood, but did involve some of the most intense crowd action I've ever been a part of. The most pit was huge and extremely rough/awesome. It seemed that no matter where you went, you were part of the pit. Although it was rough, it was still a civilized pit...which is always nice. For their next song, "Saddam A Go-Go", they brought out a guy dressed as Hitler. Hitler then proceeded to pull out a two foot long penis and spray the crowd with blue jizz as he jumped with the beat of the song while seig heil-ing. I've never laughed that hard at any concert I've ever been to.

Most of the same continued through their set, they would bring out a famous figure, injure/kill them, spraying the crowd in mystery fluid and then proceeding to rock out while the crowd whipped into a frenzy. Celebrities included George W. Bush, Jesus, Hitler, Pope Benedict XVI, Bam Margera, Don Vito, random police and "Jewcifer". Another highlight was with the Don Vito character. He bent over and his ass sprayed green fluid all over the crowd. The guy right beside me got hit by the entire stream. We just looked at eachother, said "fuck, that was awesome", high fived and kept rocking out.

Eventually, as all good things do, the concert ended. I was disappointed that they didn't play "Meat Sandwich" or "Sick of You". But whatever. I came out of the pit, absolutely COVERED in fluids. My shirt was now multicoloured and my face was caked with the dried paint from the fluid. I went into a gas station on my drive home and the attendant gave me the weirdest looks. All in all, it was a good show and if you ever have the chance to see GWAR, definitely take it. You won't be disappointed.

Hi.

I figured it was time to make a new news post. But since not much has been going on lately, I don't have anything to write about.

So...yeah. Entertain yourselves, god dammit.

So, a week ago, I went in for surgery to have my tonsils taken out and to get some other various work done on my nose and sinus. What they really did, I don't know. I should probably find that out or something. Either way, here is the chronicle of my journey under the knife.

I arrive at the hospital about 2.5 hours before my surgery is scheduled. Its around 9:30 in the morning and I'd much rather be in bed than walking through the hospital doors. I make a few turns and reach the ever ominous "day surgery admission" sign, which helpfully directs me to the desk where I sign myself in. I present my health card to the nurse there, who verifies that I am who I claim to be. It was an existential roller coaster, talking to this woman. She tells me to have a seat in the waiting area and someone will call my name.

Entering the waiting area, its full of people who share my predicament. Some look like they need surgery bad, which kind of sucks. There is a TV there, but its tuned to a really lame Canadian cable TV game show (Inside the Box for those interested), so that was of no help to me. Luckily, I brought a book with me as I figured I'd be waiting a while. I read the book for a while, chuckling to myself at its dry wit and humour, until it happened. They called my name. It was time.

A lovely older gentleman who was apparently a volunteer escorted me into a changing area where I had to put on one of those really uncomfortable hospital gowns. I put on the gown, feeling really weird and awkward in it and waited for someone to get back to me. So, I walked around the changeroom a few times and read the stuff on the walls. Apparently, hospital gowns are one size fits all and that should a gown be torn, it should be placed in an adjacent laundry hamper. One day, I will find out what happens to these unfortunate gowns. But before I could begin my in depth investigation into the location of the tattered garments, the volunteer guy came back and took me over the the pre-op area. Turns out, this wasn't as simple as I thought it was going to be.

The old man gives me some papers to give to a nurse who eventually comes around and she leads me to a bed and tells me to get comfortable. I climb into the bed and its all hard and well...hospital bed-like. The nurse says she'll be back in a second with some warm blankets for my left arm so they can get the IV ready. Now, no one told me that I would be getting an IV put in, and I've never had one before. So I start to freak out just a bit. The heart rate monitor they had on me definitely verified that as it was beeping like crazy. At least it didn't make any siren-like noises like it did for the guy in the bed next to mine.

The nurse comes back with a cart full of needles, tubes and IV solution bags. She raises the bed up to what seems like her height and tells me that "this may bite a bit". Let me tell you...she was not kidding. As the needle slid into my vein (which is apparently very strong and healthy), it hurt like a bitch and continued to do so until the endorphins kicked in. So, I had the IV in me, pumping me full of saline solution. At this point, my parents show up, so I've got a bit of company. We talk for a while until my surgeon comes by and talks to me. She tells me what she's going to do and about how long it should take. She also informs me that they're running behind so my surgery will be later than originally scheduled. Hurray. So, I sit there in pre-op for until around 1:45pm or so, someone comes to my bed and tells me that they're going to take me into the operating room.

They wheel me in there on the bed, which was pretty cool and all the nurses are getting ready. There are some sharp looking instruments lying around as well as various chemicals and tubes. I jump over to the operating table, which is hard, cold and scary. I crack a few jokes with the nurses, and we all laugh. They tell me to lay down and they hook me up to another heart monitor and blood pressure monitor. I swear, the readings must have been through the roof at this point. One nurse comes over and puts an oxygen mask on me while another one starts to administer the anesthetic that will knock me out. Now, I'd never been put under before, so I didn't know what to expect. Holy crap, it was easily the most intense experience ever. Better than any drug or alcohol I've ever had. I started feeling warm and dizzy, kind of like I was drunk, but then things got trippy as fuck. You know when the v-hold is out on a TV and the picture starts to roll? Yeah, that's what I was seeing. It was very cool, but unfortunately, it didn't last long. Soon after the rolling started, I went under.

The next thing I know, I wake up in some strange room with an oxygen mask on and a REALLY sore throat. Apparently, the surgery was over. At this point, I was super groggy and out of it, so I just went back to sleep and communicated using either a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Eventually, I get transfered up to a bed in one of the ward rooms for further recovery. I was still really groggy and out of it, so I don't remember too much. After a while, I came to and got really bored really fast. The pain medication they had me on was awesome, so I wasn't feeling any pain. After lying in the bed for about 4-5 hours, they discharged me and I got to go home. Hurray.

The next week involved my throat looking all gross and swollen while I sat on my ass, eating popsicles, drinking ginger ale, talking on MSN and playing copious amounts of Halo 3 and Guitar Hero. Both games I'm probably better than you at. Well, Jercurpac and AfroNinja are better than me at Guitar Hero. But that's it.

Also, if anyone finds two tonsils lying around, those are mine.

Here's the lowdown on what's happening in my life, quick-styles.

1. Old lease expired at end of August, did not renew lease. Moved out of apartment. All were sad.
2. Found new apartment...yay! Oh...I don't take possession until October 1? Fuck.
3. Living at home again sucks balls. At least its only a month.
4. Commuting an hour to work sucks.
5. Surgery on the 27th? Fuck.

Comments?

So, the other day I was needing some action, adventure and random Asians in my life. Seeing or knowing nowhere else to turn, I immediately looked into the depths of my DVD collection. Which incidentally, is better than yours. Scanning through the collection, one disc stood head and shoulders above the rest, with heavenly light raining down on it from some divine digital god. What movie is this, you ask? Why none other than the greatest movie of our generation, Big Trouble in Little China.

Just the mere thought of this movie makes other movies crap their pants. There's a reason Marlon Brando is dead and its Big Trouble in Little China. He saw it and it was simply full of too much awesomeness that his head exploded (like in that scene from Scanners). I'm pretty sure that if given the chance, this movie would kill you and everyone you love. Why? Its not for us to know. The movie is too bad-ass to play by anyone's rules.

Around this point, you may be asking yourself, "what makes this movie so awesome". Really, it boils down to three things. They shall now be presented in non-sequential order:

3. Some old Chinese mystic guy named "Egg".
- Seriously. His fucking name is "Egg". I mean, you have to be a complete badass to even get through elementary school with that name. I can only picture some Chinese school with Egg kicking every kid's ass for making fun of his name. Also, this guy is a mystic. Yeah, I know that sounds lame and World of Warcraft-ish, but when someone can magically create a knight using nothing but his hands and some random gem that is never really explained in the plot, it instantly becomes awesome. Let's see your level 60 rogue mage do that, mother fucker.

1. Lo-Pan.
- Enough said. This man is the epitome of movie bad guys. An immortal, mystic who can create knights using his fucking fingernails and is hell bent on world domination. Yeah, complex character development be damned, this guy is the greatest. He's actually kind of the anti-Egg in a weird sense. Also, he's got some kinky fetish for chicks with green eyes. While this may seem weird, the man knows what he likes in a woman. Also, he has his own army of ninjas and super ninjas. What other movie villain has that? Yeah, that's right. No one. I'll get back to the super ninjas later. Sure, he goes out like total bitch, but we will always remember him for what he was. Pure, concentrated bad-ass.

2. Kurt Russel in a wife beater, shooting guns.
- This was the role Kurt Russel was born to play. I don't even think he was acting. He was probably just living out a typical day in the life of Kurt Russel. Also, I think the wardrobe was either his too or leftovers from Escape From New York. I think they blew all of their budget on fingernail knights and forgot about Kurt Russel's costume. Whatever. His uzi was his costume. He didn't need anything else. Oh yeah...he was a truck driver. If that's not awesome and manly, I don't know what is. And frankly, I wouldn't want to know.

So, for those three reasons alone, you should have stopped reading this, gone to Best Buy and bought this movie for the low, low price of only $9.99. If you are still reading this, the movie had damned well better be in your DVD drive and running in the background. If you still need further convicing as to why this movie is face-meltingly awesome, read on, oh gentle reader.

Earlier on, I mentioned super ninjas. Yeah, there are super ninjas that have totally awesome powers and would kill you five times before you hit the ground. The first of them is, unfortunately the lamest. He's a guy who can shoot lightning and manipulate electricity. In other words, a Raiden rip-off. I mean, he even had the same hat. Hold on...wait a minute. This movie was made in 1986. Mortal Kombat didn't come out until like 1994. Correction. Super ninja 1 is the greatest of them all. He's the inspiration for Raiden. Yeah. Awesome. Super ninja 2 is your run of the mill "I'm good at everything" ninja who upon the realization of the Raiden ninja's originality has been demoted to lamest. He really doesn't have any powers, he's just an awesome fighter. Kind of like Batman. Yeah. He's their version of Batman. Super ninja 3 is someone, who much like my father is easily angered and when angered destroys things. I like to call him Angry McHamfists. He gets mad and becomes practically invincible. He also has the greatest death scene in the history of film. He gets so mad that he fucking explodes. Yeah. He kills himself with anger. Let's see Citizen Kane do that.

So, if by now, you still don't agree that this movie is the greatest work of film ever made, you are either clinically retarded or a robot. And since even retarded people would like this movie, you are a robot. Please program yourself some taste so you can enjoy this movie. For those non-advanced robots, bleep blorp bleep. So...stop reading this and go buy the movie already!