http://rylcdn.tumblr.com/

http://rylcdn.tumblr.com/

an update

So currently I find myself working full-time at a Butcher, and at my mothers office. It seems to leave little time for my own personal projects. Anyhow here is a list of what I am currently working on, and what projects have moved to the back burner.
- Currently working on a series of "sprinkle paintings". They consist of iconic Canadian images, and portraits of famous Canadians through the medium of doughnut sprinkles, with a pop art theme. Having difficulties with colouring the sprinkles while keeping glossy look.
- Redefining a deck of cards. I am taking a traditional deck of cards and putting a Canadian spin on it. Changing the 4 suits (hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades) to the 4 seasons (Spring [Flower], Summer [Sun], Fall [Leaf], Winter [Snowflake]. Changing the face cards (Jack, Queen, King, Ace) to Canadian animals (Beaver, Loon, Bear, etc..). The Joker will become Raccoons. Current difficulties are the actual drawings, trying to keep them simple and geometrical.
- Hoping to get into full-time practice in September for a new musical project. A White-Stripes esq dynamic, consisting of only two members (Drums & Guitar). Use of looping pedals combined with a polyphonic octave generator to create bass/rhy section. Tentatively titled RYL CDN.

- Back burner is civiko. Didn't bother to renew civiko.com Hoping for an election in the fall so I can properly test out certain ideas.

thats all for now.

BBC radio 4 - In Our Times

Hello, this is primarily so that I don't forget about it. But here is a BBC 4 radio program called In Our Time. A bit dry and English, but none the less quite interesting on a large number of subjects.

McLuhan

Been going over Mark Federman's doctoral thesis on Valence Theory and just thought I'd share a part of McLuhan's Understanding Media that he quotes with you all.

In a culture like ours, long accustomed to splitting and dividing all things as a means of control, it is sometimes a bit of a shock to be reminded that, in operational and practical fact, the medium is the message. That is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium - that is, of any extension of ourselves result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology.... Many people would be disposed to say that it was not the machine, but what one did with the machine, that was its meaning or message. In terms of the ways in which the machine altered our relations to one another and to ourselves, it mattered not in the least whether it turned out cornflakes or Cadillacs. The restructuring of human work and association was shaped by the technique of fragmentation that is the essence of machine technology. The essence of automation technology is the opposite. It is integral and decentralist in depth, just as the machine was fragmentary, centralist, and superficial in its patterning of human relationships.

I recommend reading Federman's Valance Theory. It has brought me many new ideas for Civico (Civiko). Let us see what tmrw brings.

Dear Oscar, get fucked

havent blogged in a long time. Just though i'd comment on how shitty the oscars were. First off I didn't watch the entire thing, but I did watch most of it. Yes i'm wasting my time cause the oscars suck but..... a few things:

-Why bother showing it live at all if the entire spectacle is for tv viewers? just tell us its live and properly edit the thing (like saturday night live/talk shows, etc..). That way you can cut short shitty speeches, and keep the good ones. Do multiple takes if things get fucked up, and so on. ITS A ROOM FULL OF ACTORS FOR FUCKS SAKE, they are used to this kind of thing.

- Why pretend to enforce a 45 second speech rule, when you clearly are just going to ignore it for the bigger awards.

- Why talk about award ceremonies that have already happened (technical awards)? You ignored them in the first place, why balk now?

- this idea of giving people oscars cause they deserve it for their entire body of work, rather then what they are nominated for is retarded. aka Jeff Bridges. Crazy Heart was ok, he was great in it, but it pales in comparison to countless other performances that he has given. They do this for pretty much every Leading Role award, every year.

- The Blind Side is a fucking awful movie, I dont care how good someone is in a film, if the movie itself sucks, no oscar.

- Why the christ do you have a group of actors taking turns, talking about a person nominated for film, name the movie for which they are nominated, have 10 seconds of music, bring out another person, and then have them rush through repeating the same information we just heard about?

- The oscars are too long?? Why not get rid of or at least have short commercials? and why aren't they of superbowl-esque quality?

- The whole thing is a crock of shit. Fuck the oscars.

- Avatar is infinitely better film making then the fucking hurt locker. Both are solid B+ movies at best.

- I love the medium of film, the industry, and those who profit off of it have turned a beautiful art form into a waste of time.

Villanelle For Our Time

From bitter searching of the heart,
Quickened with passion and with pain
We rise to play a greater part.
This is the faith from which we start:
Men shall know commonwealth again
From bitter searching of the heart.
We loved the easy and the smart,
But now, with keener hand and brain,
We rise to play a greater part.
The lesser loyalties depart,
And neither race nor creed remain
From bitter searching of the heart.
Not steering by the venal chart
That tricked the mass for private gain,
We rise to play a greater part.
Reshaping narrow law and art
Whose symbols are the millions slain,
From bitter searching of the heart
We rise to play a greater part.

Steal This Sound - A Constantines Fan Site

I had the flu, and I spent it making a Constantines fan site. Its still in the works but its got plenty of crap on it. Check it out here
STEAL THIS SOUND

i've got a lazy eye and so do these ladies

stumbled upon this while looking up information about lazy eyes. I'd be curious to see the male version of this list. Only one I know of is Thom Yorke.

yee old bloge

My girlfriend asked me if I knew about any cool blogs, and I could think of none. So alas here I am updating my old blog. The following I post with hesitation as nobody likes to have their own thoughts associated with "conspiracy", etc...
Anyhow this is an interesting little video that a Canadian kid made about his country. Ya its of poor production value, and the person who made the video injects himself continually into the film, it contains some pretty great interviews with our elected members of state.

While it loses focus, and facts are slightly dubious at times it is worth watching.
im kinda stoned on neo-citrons and cold medicine so i'm just gonna stop writing.

http://ohcanadamovie.com/

Helen Fisher tells us why we love + cheat

not vividly detailed, but interesting none the less.

From Mulroney to Harper

So rarely does Canada manage to make it to the front page of the BBC NEWS, but we pulled it off today with the title of the headline "Canadian economy in sharp decline".

Our economy hasn't sucked this badly since fat chin was our prime minister. So congratulations fat ass for evening the score with your conservative predecessor.

With the Liberals not wanting to force an election this summer it appears the Conservative sluts get free reign over ruining this country until halloween.

on a happier note, Toronto is a million times cooler then I ever imagined it to be.

Jon-Rae Fletcher- the Big talker guitar tab

more guitar tab time. This one by Jon-Rae Fletcher (previously with the river) solo album oh Maria. This song is called the big talker, jon-rae once again proves that four chords, a great voice, and some good words are all you need. Enjoy. The song can be found on his myspace page (http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=410081905)

the Big Talker - Jon-Rae Fletcher

INTRO:
C | F | Am | G | F

Am | G | C | x4 (4th one no C, longer G )

VERSE: Am | G | C
as the sun chases the night
and the shadows from the bend
as the dew dissolves from view
remember what i said

my word is true
from now until the world is done
believe me there's no deceit
my heart beats for one

CHORUS: F | Am | G | C |
and I'm a big talker
I'm just a big talker
well i say whatever to get me by.
you can stick a needle in my eye.
my word is true, and thats no lie.
i'm a big talker

i'll fall down on my knees
hold my breath until i turn blue
cut myself until i bleed
for to be with you.

I will move that mountain
and I will move that sea
I will move that valley
for you to be with me

CHORUS:
cause I'm a big talker
I'm just a big talker
Well I never sleep until I die
and I'll drink the well until it's dry
My love will last and that's no lie
oh I'm a big talker

McLuhan and Facebook

McLuhan, If you haven't read his work, you should. Every day I find it more and more significant when it comes to understanding the world around me. Lately I've been thinking about how facebook, and the Internet in general has changed every ones relationships in a very profound and significant way. It is difficult to see these changes, and even more difficult to understand them in their entirety but thankfully Marshall has left us with some tools.
There is this one article in the New York Times that scratches the surface of this discussion, but leaves much to be desired. I will now link it with the most interesting sentence that i came across in the article. "And as we stretch the definition of a friend to encompass people we may never actually meet, will the strength of our real-world friendships grow diluted as we immerse ourselves in a lattice of hyperlinked “friends”?"

I should be doing school work, so I'm just going to spit this out in order to get it "out there".
One of the easiest things to get across when telling people about the work of McLuhan is his tetrad of media effects (Enhances, Reverses, Retrieves, Obsolesces). Essentially we can gain a greater understanding of the effects of a media if we analyze it by asking the following four questions, and because we are talking about facebook i will put the questions that way:

1. What does facebook amplify or intensify?
2. What does facebook drive out of prominence?
3. What does facebook recover that was previously lost?
4. What will facebook do when it is used too much, or pushed to an extreme?

Don't understand what the fuck I am talking about? Don't understand why facebook is a media? Thats ok stick with me, and it will become clear. Lets look at how radio effected society.

1. Radio amplifies music, the spoken word (radio soap operas, talk shows, etc...), news casts, and are available to a larger geographic audience.
2. Radio reduced the importance of print, newspapers, books, and other things we look at with out eyes. Who needs a book when you can listen to rock n roll on an old transistor radio?
3. Radio brought back the spoken word. In a time when books were all the rage. Everything was read in a book. Radio returned us to the age of the spoken word.
4. The popularity of radio gave birth to the return of the visual (now accompanied by audio) with the birth of tv.

Now that you understand what these 4 questions are about, ask yourself them? I will not answer them completly today, but will at a later date. Please comment. to get you started

What does facebook amplify? Clearly it allows us instant communication with almost everyone in the entire world, particularly someone we've met in some fashion. We rely less on face to face communication, the telephone, etc... It brings back people we haven't spoken to in years, etc....

anyhow, mull it over, im getting back to work.

TV & the Internet

All TV channels should distribute themselves over the internet. No more CTV and Comedey Network simalcasting american programs, and no more showcase living off of HBO and Showtime.

Anyhow to download your favorite TV shows (moments after they are aired for the first time) get this program called TED. It works on all OS so you should be golden. You will need a torrent program to have this work. for PC get uTorrent, and for mac download Transmission.

The once lovely atdhe.net apparently got way too popular in Canada as the fuckers no longer seem to stream Canadian hockey games for the most part (according to forums the NHL has been leaning on them). If the NHL wants people to see their product so they can have decent advertising revenue. They might want to reconsider charging $50+ a month to watch games via their website. And as long as their are TV timeouts, i wouldn't feel obliged to spend any money on watching hockey. If I'm going to pay to watch profressional sports, I better physically fucking be there. Anyhow fuck the CRTC and a long list of other people. i hope this has been helpful.

FLUXUS Good Enough For Government Work EP

The band I am in, FLUXUS recently released our first EP. The songs are all very different so please take a chance to at least preview them all. We wanted to have something out before we played our next show, so the songs aren't necessarily exactly how we wanted them to sound like, but good enough. They sound nothing like this live, but that is to be expected. We are working on our first full length album, and are hoping to play various festivals and shows across Canada, and New York state this coming summer. Hope you enjoy it. j. windsor

Guitar Tab - Serena Ryder Dark as the Black

Guitar tab time, seeing that the Hayden song I did seems to be the only reason people visit this site, I figured I'd share another. Here is one by the lovely Serena Ryder. Don't judge her by her recorded albums, the live show is a billion times better.

Serena Ryder - Dark As the Black
Tune Down a Full Step

Can be seen played live here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwU1tU5-Ng4

This is a simple transcription of what shes playing. the C in the verse is x32033. (normal C at other parts I think)
The C/D is sort of a walk down removing your finger from the D string x30033. Then the D after that is sort of just picking away at it.. To give it more character, hammer fingers on and off on the Em. just use your ear, and figure it out.

G C G C C/D D
There's a crack in the ground from Waterloo all the way to Arizona.
I can see from the fire escape outside, that help me get to know you
Em C D G D G
What was it like, when I was in your life, did my touch feel the same,
D
as your touch it felt so good to me, it felt so good to me.

Em D G C
One world, one love, means nothing if you're just pretending
One world, one love, there's nothing to good intentions
Em D Em
Dark as the black in the cracks in the ground.

There's a crack in the ground from Tennessee all the way to Caledonia
I can tell by the way the silence rings, and echoes in the corners.
Em C D G D G
how many times you wanted to cry, but you kept it inside.
D
Now the silence echoes deafening, its much too loud for me.

One world, one love, means nothing if you're just pretending
One world, one love, there's nothing to good intentions
Dark as the black in the cracks in the ground.

There's a crack in the ground from Old New York, all the way to Minnesota
I can see by the way ten thousand lakes are screaming for more water.
Give us some hope, we haven't got enough.
To keep ourselves filled up, when you drink us empty, drink us dry and ask us why we're dry.

One world, one love, means nothing if you're just pretending
One world, one love, there's nothing to good intentions
One world, one love, means nothing if you're just pretending
To do, your part, there's nothing to good intentions
Dark as the black in the cracks in the ground.
Dark as the black in the cracks in the dark
Dark as the black in the cracks in the ground.

best albums of 2008

with the exception of a few amazing albums, most of the music of 2008 was disapointing or fucking lame. Then again I'm not sure how much of it i even bothered to listen to. So here we go:

1. Constantines - Kensington Heights Number one with a bullet, and also hailed as album of the year by the associated press we have the Constantines with Kensington Heights. This one is tamer then their previous albums, but still packs a punch. Some of the songs still don't quite mach their brilliance live, but they come damn close. This one also contains the best song to date sung by Steve Lambke, "Shower of Stones". While his vocal stylings might not be everyones cup of tea, this song has gorgeous texture, builds up brilliantly, and the main line of "all love can be a shower of stones" is a gem. All the other songs are all brilliant in their own unique way. I would have named the album Queenston Heights, as a slight reference to the Americans essentially losing the war of 1812 because of this famous battle, but I have since spent time in Toronto and discovered that the Kensington Market area is pretty fucking kick ass, and home to a great guitar shop called "paul's botique". I got a sweet amp from their, and the dudes are actually helpful, rather then out to screw clueless musicians such as myself.

2. Hayden - In Field and Town
Like all Hayden albums, this one contains 4 amazing songs, and then a bunch of really pretty ones. Simple, wonderful and easy to digest. Personal favorites are: Damn This Feeling, Lonely Security Guard, and Weight of the World.

3. Bob Dylan - Tell Tale Signs
While none of these songs were recorded in 2008 the latest installment of the Dylan Bootleg series was released in 2008. Another fine example of this old bastards ability to write a song and play it a million different ways. A good live version of Cocaine Blues, pretty similar to Van Ronk's but freeer and more swinging. A simple acoustic take on Most of Time is interesting to hear, and while I always thought a stripped down version of any Dylan song is always superior to its band backed counterpart, this one makes you realise that.... they are both great, fucking dylan. Not for everyone I know, but have your local dylan fanatic pick and choose em for you.

4. Ray LaMontagne - Gossip in the Grain
A good example of being able to release an album to a wide audience and not have it suck really badly. Some songs are a bit boring, but Meg White, Hey Me Hey Mama, and Henry Nearly Killed Me carry most of the weight.


Most disapointing albums: Raconteurs, Nick Cave's Dig Lazaurs, and Coldplay's boring crap fest Viva La Vida.

Most Over Hyped: Anything on pitchforks list.

Pretty Good or If I listened to them more then once they might be good: James' Hey Ma, doing pop just as well as they ever did. Not a solid album from begining to end but Hey Ma is a good anti-war tune, and the rest are pretty and non-offensive. Kings Of Leon's Only By Night is nothing too new or interesting, but as far as top 40 rock n roll goes, its better then most of the shit they put on the radio. Portishead's third, Tv on the Radio's science something or other, cut copy.. my buddy sean likes them so it could be good. blaa bla bla im tired of writing.

Band's who might have been good at one point in time, but don't have to bother listening to ever again because they clearly have gone past the point of no return:
Catpower, Coldplay, Ryan Adams, and i hate to do this... Billy Bragg

i wish ron paul was the president

figured this was worth posting. I am 98% sure Obama is going to be useless.

TV and the Internet, Al-Jazeera in Canada

A while back the CRTC made a bull shit ruling that al-Jazeera could be broadcast in Canada but only if it was under 24 hour surveillance. This gave the various TV consortium's (Bell, Videotron, Shaw, Cogeco, Rogers, etc...) the excuse that it would be "too expensive" to do, and thus allowed the whole country to quietly ignore the fact that our access to information and media is one of the most restricted of western democracies.

Well fuck em, you can now watch in fairly decent quality al-jazeera, bbc news, bbc world, a couple french channels, a Russian one, and listen to the german station DW for free via the wonderful software program livestation. I highly recommend it to all. Also joost is making headway, and is now available in a flash format, so those of us stuck with G5 chips can now use the software.

anyhow elections are around the corner, and though the problems that face our current society, and the greater human civilization are far too complex for a current political technocrats to deal with I will gladly settle with a government (if the NDP were to win) that would get rid of those $1.50 banking fees, and to give all the cellphone compaines in this country shit so we aren't left with myserious $100+ bills every month despite whatever $17.95 monthly 3 year contract plan we signed up for.

If you are going to vote, just don't vote for one of the main parties in Canada. America, sorry, but you're fucked no matter what happens.

children for president

Did anyone watch republican vice president Sarah Palin's speech last night? The whole thing was pretty fucking weird. The entire speech had this bizarre juvenile ring to it. It seemed like I was watching a girl running in a high school election giving a speech. The listing of minimal achievements as if they were impressive accomplishments while totally ignoring the reality of what is actually going on in america was just fucking odd.

Only republicans can turn the daily misery of millions of people into nothing more then a silly game of one liners and easy answers. After viewing this speech you would have no idea that this lady is talking about a country that is: the most powerful country in the world, currently fighting two different wars, facing a massive energy crisis, a housing market meltdown, an economy that is facing rapidly increasing unemployment and inflation, and millions of other fucking problems.

This is an attitude that can only be adopted by people who have no regard for their fellow human beings, and the real problems that they face on a daily basis.

I'd be angry, as should everyone else, but lets face it they haven't even counted the votes in the last 8 years, so don't take it seriously. At the end of the day this is nothing more then an elaborate show to help prolong the myth of american democracy and to make people feel warm and fuzzy inside. Seriousness, morality, and practicality have no place in this circus. It's all bull shit, and it's bad for you. by the way. election in canada soon in case anyone is still paying attention.

youth in revolt

im stuck in my hometown taking care of my mothers office while she is on vacation, so i figured it would be a good time to re-vive the old blog.

anyhow the first book i ever remember picking up and reading by myself is being turned into a movie. I picked up the book because of its font choice, which I ended up using as the font for my early websites. Anyhow the book is called "youth in revolt" by C.D. Payne. In the early days of the internet when people only connected via AOL, compuserve and a handful of other internet providers, I use to email back and forth with the author. That was one the things that made me fall in love with internet. Anyhow there is no real point to this post. But fucking canadian Michael Cera is playing nick twisp, Steve Buscemi is in it, and so is Zach Galafanakis. So I am fucking thrilled about this. just figured id share that. Im currently reading Paynes "frisco pigon mambo" which was supposed to be turned into a movie, but apparently got dropped. Anyhow just glad to see the author that turned me onto fiction is finally getting the credit that he deserves. Im sure the movie will kick ass.

holy fuck i miss montreal. tear.....

CIVIKO.CA

well this blog is now officially ignored to death. im working on civiko.ca it looks like shit, and doesnt have anything on it right now. but this will hopefully be my sweet little baby.

ummmm yea. thats it for now.

well i was wrong

well I was wrong about Ms. Clinton. Oh well, its a good thing.
two things of interest happened today.
first is Kucinich's introduction of 35 acts of impeachment against President Bush. The 2nd is the passing of bill C-50. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080609/Immigration_reforms_080609/20080609?hub=QPeriod

that is all.

Hilliary Clinton will win the Democratic Presidental Nomination

once again I haven't posted in a long time but here is my opinion on the current state of American politics.
Yes that's right I believe that Hillary will eventually beat out Barrack Obama for the nomination of presidential candidate this year. Sounds pretty fucking ridiculous doesn't it? The fact that Hillary needs 98% of the remaining undeclared super delegates to win the nomination, and Obama only needs 3% further underlines that point. So then why the hell would I still think that she is going to win? A poll on CNN has 95% of the population feeling that the nomination won't be decided until the day of the convention. Why is that a big deal?

Super delegates can change who they want to support until the very last moments of the convention. So why would 98% of the super delegates suddenly switch support from Obama to Hillary? That all depends on what kind of bullshit story the American public, and for that matter the general population of the world can swallow. In the recent days we have seen the Hillary campaign underline the fact that everyone's vote should count. This is important because two major swing states delegates; Florida and Michigan's votes and delegates have been disallowed. So why would two states knowingly go against their own party's rules and have their primaries ahead of time so that they would be disallowed?
The current line is they wanted to receive more attention, so that they would be more important. Well ultimately this statement isn't incorrect. They will become incredibly important as this contest dwindles down to its ultimate conclusion. Hillary will demand that the votes of these two states be counted. Currently there is talk of a mail-in vote, or just having the primaries held again. Hillary currently has a 17 point lead in Florida, and a 14 point lead in Michigan. These are two important swing states and if Hillary can "win" these states by a large enough margin, it will a great bull shit excuse to "convince" the super-delegates to give her the nomination.
Hillary and Barrack are both back campaigning in Florida, so this now seems inevitable. (Hillary is currently in Boca Raton, Obama talking to Cuban-Americans)
Hillary has been making ever so slightly gains over the last few primaries. There is a reason why this has been dragged out for so long. To make you so sick of it, so that you hate the process, don't want to pay attention to it, and ultimately could careless about the final outcome. This is the slow grind of manufacturing consent and apathy.
I hope to fucking god I am wrong about all this but I've noticed far too many subtle hints in the media lately. When Edwards endorsed Obama he spent the entire time talking about how wonderful Hilary is. In the NYTIMES they keep printing these strange dark pictures of Obama that only show a shadow of him that makes him come across as sinister and mysterious. The rhetoric that Hillary has been using as of late; “And so our party will have a tough choice to make,” she says. “Who’s ready to lead our party at the top of our ticket? Who is ready to defeat Senator McCain in the swing states and among swing voters?”

The current odds for Hillary to win are 6.5 to 1, Obama 1.2 to 1.
Hillary is doing a good job now of playing the sexist card, that she won't be bullied out of this contest. This will give her more then enough gas to take her all the way to the convention.

so that is my prediction. I hope I'm wrong, but if there is anything that history has taught me, it is to fight optimism and hope when predicting future events, they distort our ability to perceive reality and the situation that surrounds us. This sounds pessimistic as hell but I am going way out on a limb here. Optimism is cowardice and to make a bold prediction is pessimistic in its very nature.

so now, we wait and see.

kids in the hall

holy shit its good to see these guys are back at it. apparently they are playing a show in Toronto June something or other.
they have some new skits at funnyordie.com

this one about student loans and raping kevin is pretty good, so is the car fuckers.
i would like to get my hands on every skit, and then make my own personal collection of favorite kith skits and put it up on bittorent, as there seems to a lacking of their stuff on the net.

happy summer. habs win! Praise the lord!

fantasy hockey, or not that far from reality hockey.

This is an old posting, that never got posted, as I wanted to crystalize a few more ideas before posting it. but seeing that if i dont post it now it will just be neglcted forever, and I need to update the blog, and this is an easy half assed way of doing so.

Playoffs: Habs look like shit, but i hope like hell they can get it together. Im pulling for Calgary because of all the great old bastards on the team, San Jose is for fags. My money is on Rangers coming out of the east. Those sluts in Anaheim might just beat the shit out of everyone and pull it off. I guess we will have to wait and see. Ottawa looks fucking pathetic. Spezza is shit, and Heatley doesn't look much better. Also if this country wants to see the Male half of the species to stop slipping behind the ladies academically, they might want to move exams, or the playoffs. its not helping.

RANT ABOUT A NEW HOCKEY LEAUGE BEGINS HERE:
Anyhow to all those who said the idea of Premier Canadian Hockey League is impossible.
I've got two rich billionaires that want a team. This Guy and Basillie. Thats one team in Toronto, and then another in Hamilton. I am sure there is some rich oil fuckers that can put a team in Alberta, and there has to be at least one french-canadian billionaire to put a team in Quebec.

2 more and you have a league right.

Have the league entierly transparent, and rather then have corporate boxes, run large charity based lotterys/raffles, and give the tickets out that way. You could even sell the tickets via auction sites in order to create a fair market value for the cost of tickets. Throw all scalpers in jail and you would have full arenas every damn night. Season ticket holders that don't show up to the game on time (they could call in if they were going to be late) would have their tickets sold at game time at the rate of the average cost of a ticket in the arena. Nothing worst then seeing the best seats in the house empty. Currently at least 50% of the value of a ticket is going to 3rd party middlemen (ticketmaster, scaplers, ebay, and other 3rd party ticket brokers). A league that was capable of setting up its own ticket broker would see a massive increase in ticket sales.

The only thing that would fluctuate would be how much money the team is either making or losing on a nightly basis, which information would be published to the public. You could then balance out the cost of running a team against the cost fans are paying for the tickets.

Really there are enough wealthy Canadians that are addicted to hockey like crack cocaine that they could find a way to run a team like a co-op. Display how much money they are spending on staff, players, and the arena, and then explain to the local population that they require this much money to run the team.
You could also find a new way of paying players that would remove the need for shitty "agents". Create a standard wage that everyone receives, add bonuses for hits, +/-, goals, assists, time on ice, blocked shots, fights, etc... Then have local fans rank the players on their teams of importance adding more additional cash to each player. This would help create an effective ranking system as well. Also create a strong pension fund for players that get injured. Why should shitty players get paid a lot that they don't deserve?
Have the strongest cash incentives for playoff performance, and overall team performance.
Players would then be all on the same paying level, and the constant negotiating, and fucking about with lawyers would be removed from the sport. Players would make more money, as a large portion would no longer go to their agents and lawyers.

Remember people the reason why the league sucks (not as good as it could be) is because its run by A FUCKING LAWYER!

The league could also film the games themselves and sell it directly to bars and consumers via the internet. No need to get short changed by the big TV companies. The NHL doesn't have a contract with a single major american network!? And we are supposed to believe this is a "professional" sport in America!? you must be shitting me. I would be curious to see how insignificant the tv revenue from Versus is for the NHL compared to their contract with the CBC.

My friends have recently come to the conclusion that the best hockey season would be 20 teams, 60 games. That would be great, but

I prefer two divisions of 15 teams playing 60 games. Premiership consisting of the top 15, and then a second league consisting of the bottom 15. With the top 5 and bottom 5 switching spots each season.

So who would be in this hypothetical 30 team league?

1. Toronto
2. Toronto
3. Montreal
4. Montreal
5. Ottawa
6. Hamilton
7. Quebec City
8. Winnipeg
9. Calgary
10. Edmonton
11. Regina
12. Vancouver
13. Halifax
14. Somewhere else in Ontario
15. Possibly St. Johns

16. NY (long island)
17. NY (Manhattan)
18. Philadelphia
17. Boston
18. Pittsburgh
19. Detroit
20. Chicago
21. Denver
22. Dallas
23. Los Angeles.
24. Buffalo
25. Anaheim
26. San Jose
27. Washington
28. Minnesota
29. Carolina/Hartford
30. Somewhere in Ohio

obvious rule changes: no touch icing. Get rid of the instigator rule. Goalies can get hit when they leave the crease, but can skate anywhere and play the puck. Take those useless line refs off the ice, replace with electronic location detectors in players skates and the puck to see when people are offside. Its the 21st century fuckers, we have computers and electronics! Similar thing for puck going across the red line when scoring. Penalites can be called after the whistle is blown if they are missed and of signifcance. Have a room full of people watching every inch of the ice via video cameras. IF A BAD CALL IS MADE, the ref can decide it was stupid and negate it. If he doesn't, it may then be reviewed by the leauge, and a strike will be made against the ref if its a bad call. 5 of these and he has to get a new job. Bigger fucking areans, and reasonable prices for food and booze. NO COMERCIAL BREAKS DURING THE GAME!! only between periods. If all the fucking adds on the boards isnt enough, slap a logo on the uni's. would look like shit, but the pace of hockey goes up about 1000% when there isn't comercials every 7 fucking minutes.

comments, critisisms, its fucking hockey, everyones got something to say about it!

for some reason my blog got 30 hits last week, so i figured i should update it.
drank too much for st patricks day. woke up around midnight. sleeping pattern is not in a good state of affairs.. but alas, good for weirdo internet behaviour.

this is interesting
1948, 1984, 2004, ahh forever.....

coming soon... an essay on Canadian Senate reform, and how to fix federalism in Canada.
(Upper house elected by an intellectual community, and why a 3rd virtual level of parliament would be highly beneficial to help clairify debate within the commons.)

new constantines album is being leaked on the internet. hype machine it.
and the latest cuff the duke album is kinda good.

SAVE JPOD!!!

just because the leafs suck and have lost CBC a shitload of revenue, and the Conservative government doesnt like to support.... anything, doesnt mean jPod should no longer exist.

i figure 10 seconds of blogging is the least i can do for a TV show that i really enjoy.
dont like it, or never heard of it?

ill burn you a DVD of all episodes if you sign the petition!

new mac keyboards

I got myself one of the new mac keyboards and they are fucking awesome. Despite purchasing a french one initially, I got my hands on an english one shortly afterwards and its wonderful. typing is enjoyable with these highly response keyboards. Haven't tried the wireless but I highly recommend this purchase to anyone who has a computer. For 50 bucks, its worth every penny.

what a shit day for Canadians

Well today was quite the shit day for fans of the Montreal Canadians and every single Canadian citizen.
Bob Gainey got rid of its starting goalie Christobal Huet for a 2nd round draft pick to Washington. With Montreal only having a 6 point lead over the 9th placed team in the East, I won't be surprised if they don't make the playoffs. So now the starting goalie is the young Carey Price who has a cross and Garth Brooks on his mask and is coming off of several loses. Yippee!

More impotantly the piece of shit Conservative government passed a budget today that will be so useless and uneffective at accomplishing anything, you wouldn't even know it passed or that billions of dollars are being spent on things. I take that back, they did spend a shit load of money on the military. So enjoy getting blown up by IEDs in your new toys Canadian military! Then again it most likely will be spent primairly on advertisements to recruite more poor, misguided Canadians.

The Bloc, and the NDP voted against it, and the Dildos swaped shots in the mouth in order to retain their positions as party leaders for a little bit longer. bla bla bla. what a sad fucking state of affairs.

Hayden - Damn This Feeling - In Field and Town - guitar tab and lyrics

This song has been stuck in my head for about a month now, and I wanted to learn how to play it so I'm sharing a simple version of it with you (people of the internet). enjoy.

Hayden - Damn this feeling from the album In Field & Town

(key of C)
Verses
F Bb F C
I have been wrestling
with the thought of it all
since you left me
out in the cold last fall.

i wake up lonely
and go to bed the same way
people they call me
just to make sure i'm ok.

(chorus)
F Bb C F
But I think I'm healing
damn this feeling
I have been reeling
since last season
Gm C
its the one thing i had left
from everything I get
I'm gonna miss how bad this has felt.

Woman adore me
for the sad look in my eyes
now they ignore
for getting on with my life

(chorus)
cause I think I'm healing
damn this feeling
I have been reeling
since last season
its the one thing i had left
from everything I get
I'm gonna miss how bad this has felt.
how bad this has felt
how bad this has felt

(harmonica interlude)
(bridge)
Gm C Am Bb x2
Gm Gm C (i think, then back to verse)

leaves they are falling
just as I let go of you
winter is calling
and I have no memories to lose.

pointless blog

While Michelangelo may have been the shittiest of the 4 Italian renaissance artists depicted in the Ninja Turtles (I like Raphael as far as the actual artists go, Leonardo as far as Ninja Turtles), he clearly takes the cake in this classic stay off drugs video. 

Fucking Cell phone companies

The seemingly useless conservative government created a complaint for telecomunications commissioner. Anyhow I've sent my complaint, I recommend you do the same.
I am sure there won't be any results, but you never know until you try.

COMPLAIN and COMPLAIN LOUD
FUCK YOU ROGERS!! FUCK YOU UP YOUR STUPID ASSES!