Since my webpage lacks that music touch , everyday I'll post the first song that is randomized from my Ipod.  Today it's Weezer's "Undone"

 

Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine
Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline..

 

I'm feeling like some good hip-hop today

Blackstar- Respiration

 

It blows my mind that Christian groups in the United States are boycotting "The Golden Compass."  If their beliefs are as strong as they believe them to be then surely they can take a little questioning.
Here is a great read from Mark Moford regarding this issue.

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It has become a rule, some sort of law of the popular culture upon which any open-minded human worth her soul can rely with utter and perfect clarity.

It goes like this: If there is a piece of art, a TV show, a column, a book, a movie, a blog, a movement, a wine bottle or sexual position that somehow deeply threatens the various ultraconservative sects of Christian-blasted America to the point where their pale, dour representatives demand boycotts and distribute angry pamphlets to try to stop people from experiencing said hunk of culture because of how negatively it portrays their seething, condemnatory God, well, it's time to break out the Champagne. Or buy that book. Or get very, very naked. Or all of the above.

So it is with the first movie made from Philip Pullman's astonishing "His Dark Materials" trilogy, "The Golden Compass," a complex, mystically gorgeous, spiritually dense, big-budget fantasy epic so far removed from the cute wizardry of Harry Potter and the thin, childish, monochromatic Christian morality of, say, "The Chronicles of Narnia," that it might as well be a Coen brothers movie. On acid.

Oh my God yes - they are protesting. They are pamphleting. From the Catholic League and Focus on the Family to evangelical/fundamentalist Christian blogs from here to Colorado Springs, they are calling on their trembling armies to boycott the film because they believe that Pullman's brilliant books - which, by the way, if I had the power, I would place in the eager hands of every youngish human on the planet, especially the girls - are not only aggressively anti-Christian, but that they also describe, as their grand finale, nothing less than the death of God. This is what they say.

And here is the terrific thing: They are absolutely right.

But let's be a bit more specific, shall we? Because as any fan of "HDM" knows, it ain't really about God, per se. Pullman's luminous novels have nothing to do with rejecting faith or destroying the spirit or inhibiting the exploration of what it means to be divine. They are, in fact, the exact opposite. They relish spirit and the magic of belief and love, are soaked through with divine inspiration of a kind any intelligent Christian (or honest spiritual seeker of any stripe, for that matter) should crave. This is what makes them so incredible.

The nefarious thing the books aim to kill is religious authority. It's about the destruction of dogma. It's about power, about who wants to control and manipulate life on Earth, about the blind, ignorant, even violent adherence to insidiously narrow codes of thought, belief, behavior, sex, desire and love.

This, of course, is the God of organized religion. This is the false deity that promotes numb groupthink, inhibits growth and abhors the feminine divine (perhaps the books' most beautiful, inspiring theme), the same paranoid, dreadful God that votes for George W. Bush because he will smite the icky gays and protect us from vile pagans and Buddhists and Muslims and feminists and frumpy genius atheist British writers. If humanity is to flourish, to get over its addiction to war and guilt and fear, this is the false God that should - that must - die.

Although the books have as their evil antagonist a sinister cabal called the Magisterium (obvious parallel: Catholic Church), they also have a slew of dark characters in service of the Magisterium, various assassins, double agents and robot drones running around trying to annihilate the children's spirit, destroy magic and lock down faith forever. Let us call these robotic drones, oh, say, the Catholic League. Or Focus on the Family. Gosh, no wonder they're a little peeved.

But it's almost too easy, is it not? Even a child can see that these people are so far from true spirit, so far from open consciousness, it's a bit like comparing a lint ball to a cloud bank, a dung beetle to a flower bed. They are spiritual caricatures, the creepy clowns in organized religion's gloomy circus, all scrunched brows and gnarled hands and so much repressed sexuality that it would make a porn star wince. Really, why give their silly protests any attention at all?

For one thing, because these groups have proven that they can be highly dangerous, utterly toxic to the culture as a whole. You already know the list - FCC crackdowns, stem cell research, ultraconservative judges, abstinence education, anti-choice laws, vicious homophobia, intelligent design, the rejection of science - all of which aim for the creation of a fascist theocracy in America.

In fact, director Chris Weitz, who adapted "The Golden Compass" for the screen, reportedly removed any direct mentions of God or religion from the film version, fearing, along with New Line Cinema, some sort of Christian conservative backlash. Fans were, appropriately, outraged. It remains to be seen how much of those vital themes Weitz left intact, but you could argue that the Bible-thumpers have already taken their sad toll.

(But I do look forward to the bloodcurdling screams that will surely come from these groups when they see the third film, which, if the creators hold at all true to the original book, and presuming the movie gets made at all, features a pair of wonderful, immensely powerful, tragic gay angels.)

It might not matter. With any luck, and if "The Golden Compass" turns out to be even half as wondrous as the book, it will hopefully fuel a surge in sales of the "HDM" trilogy in America and, perhaps, inspire a new literary awakening among young readers, darker and more complex and even (gasp) slightly sexual, far beyond the clever but innocuous magic of Harry Potter - which, by the way, had its share of religious bonk-jobs calling for its destruction, as wizardry is clearly the dominion of the devil. We all know what a huge drop in sales that protest caused.

But there is another note of good news from this tale of fear and whining and outcry, and it takes the form of another delightful rule upon which your soul can happily rely, as well as a heartfelt lesson for trembling ultraconservative sects everywhere.

It's this: If your ancient, authoritarian, immutable belief system is threatened by a handful of popular novels, if your ostensibly all-powerful, unyielding creed is rendered meek and defenseless when faced with the story of a fiery, rebellious young girl who effortlessly rejects your stiff misogynistic religiosity in favor of adventure, love, sex, the ability to discover and define her soul on her own terms, well, it might be time for you to roll it all up and shut it all down and crawl back home, and let the divine breathe and move and dance as she sees fit. Don't you agree?

Nothing like going head first into Austrian powder

 

What does a fish say after swimming into a wall?

 

Damn!

In a train car there were a Canadian, an American, a spectacular looking blonde and a frightfully awful looking fat lady. After several minutes of the trip the train happens to pass through a dark tunnel, and the unmistakable sound of a slap is heard. When they leave the tunnel, the American had a big red slap mark on his cheek.

1. The blonde thought - "That American son of a bitch wanted to touch me and by mistake, he must have put his hand on the fat lady, who in turn must have slapped his face"
2. The fat lady thought - "This dirty old American laid his hands on the blonde and she smacked him".
3. The American thought - "That f*cking Canadian put his hand on that blonde and by mistake she slapped me".
4. The Canadian thought - "I hope there's another tunnel soon so I can smack that stupid American again".

Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert,

Congress said,"Someone may steal from it at night." So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job.

Then Congress said,"How does the watchman do his job without instruction?" So they created a planning department and hired two people, one person to write the instructions, and one person to do time studies.

Then Congress said,"How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?" So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people. One to do the studies and one to write the reports.

Then Congress said,"How are these people going to get paid?" So they created the following positions, a time keeper, and a payroll officer, then hired two people.

Then Congress said,"Who will be accountable for all of these people?" So they created an administrative section and hired three people, an Administrative Officer, Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal Secretary.

Then Congress said,"We have had this command in operation for one year and we are $18,000 over budget, we must cutback overall cost." So they laid off the night watchman.

 

What the hell is wrong with Kim Jong-Il?

North Korea has claimed to have carried out what neighbours have long feared- a nuclear weapons test.  The test occured @ 9:26pm EDT Sunday night.

 

Kim Jong-Il is an unstable sociopath.  His biography reads that he was born at Mount Paektu in northern Korea on Feb. 16,1942.  His birth was foretold by a swallow, and this it was hearlded by the apperarance of a double rainbow over the mountains and a new star in the heaveans.  WOW

 

Despite all the Western characictures of Jong-Il he is quite brilliant... and pretending to be completely and utterly crazy is part of his plan... and what is his plan?

 

All i know is that this is perfect timing for President Bush to swoop in and look like the American Hero now that his approval ratings are at an all time low

 

 

Another South Park Episode that delivers greatness.

 

Championships - The Psychos won their 2nd Championship in a row, once again over the Astros. These teams have played 11 championship games against eachother in the last 2 years.  That's me in the middle giving the double back 2 back .. hah 3 peat next year baby

1 more win and it's back2back SABL Championships

For the second time in as many years, my baseball team The Psychos, faced off against the Astros in a best of 5 for the SABL Championship.  Parity in the SABL?  I think not.. The Astros are in their sixth consecutive championship final while we are just the fifth different team to win a championship (last year) in the past 12 years.

In Game 1, the Astros were all over our pitching, racking up 7 runs in the first 3 innings.  We tried to rally late in the game but came up short.  The final 7-3 Astros.  ( I would like to note that this lose was our first since early June)

In Game 2, I took to the mound and gave up a HUGE 3-run shot in the first inning. Seriously, i don't think it's landed yet. (maybe i shouldn't have been out late drinking the night before). Then in the second  I allowed a run in the on a bases loaded walk.  In the 5th our bats came alive with my 2-run double and a 3-run shot by Brian "Clutch" Bileski.  My hangover wore off and i shut the Astros down the rest of the way, striking out 11.  The final 7-4 Pyschos.

In Game 3, Pitching was the story once again... and the weather.  I froze my ass off tonight in right field with the temp dipping to 6C.   After giving up a 2 run bomb in the first (what's with us giving up homeruns in the 1st inning?) Bileski shut down the Astros and helped his own cause by hitting a towering 3 run shot late in the game, giving us the victory and a strangle hold on the series.  "Nothing's funnier than watching grown men jumping up and down in the dugout"- player's girlfriend.  I have to admit, i was pretty excited when he hit that homerun

the salmon run is in full swing here in southern ontario.. i caught a 30lb + salmon on monday night!  (not the one in the pic btw.. she was only 15lbs)

Some random pictures to get us thru the next few months..