Free Movie Network!

I decided to engage in a bit of cord shaving today, reducing my cable TV package from the VIP to Digital Plus (and thus saving about $15 per month).  The only channels I'll really miss are Sportnet One and The Score, but those alone aren't worth $15.  I got no hassle from the guy on the phone, and in fact he ended up offering me a free trial to the Movie Network for 2 months (which I asked to be automatically disabled after the trial, but I'll be sure to check on that). So, that's pretty sweet.  Not that I tend to sit down and watch a bunch of movies, but it's perfect timing for being able to watch the second season of Game of Thrones. You know... legitimately.

One day I'll cord cut, but live streaming of sports has to improve. Have you seen the quality of the Hockey Night In Canada stream? Atrocious! On the other hand, the TSN stream of curling is quite good quality (which will be the last bit of praise I'll be giving TSN).

I'll gladly pay for the things I want to watch.  But I won't pay for the things I don't watch just because of an arbitrary bundle for much longer.

More IME Too?

First it was Big Wreck coming out with a great new song and album, and now I just found today that I Mother Earth has also regrouped and released a new song, "We Got The Love". I'm listening to it for the first time on the band's website as I type this. I'm loving what I'm hearing. Also, my self of 10 years ago is loving this resurgence of some of my favourite band.

John Carter

I went to see the movie "John Carter" tonight with Patrick. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It should do better at the box office than it ultimately will, but that's because it's a textbook example of terrible marketing. I barely knew about the movie and it's supposed to be Disney's huge blockbuster franchise to replace "Pirates of the Caribbean". But with a name as generic as "John Carter", it's not surprising that it has eluded public conscienceness. Apparently some brilliant marketing people thought that if they kept the original title "John Carter of Mars" it would scare off the female demographic.

Interestingly enough, it's based off a novel written back in 1917 called "A Princess of Mars". You can tell that elements of it have inspired many science-fiction works since then.

It was a large series of novels, so I would suspect that the idea was that there would definitely be sequels. Hopefully they can make enough money to continue the series... and hopefully without the dedication to the memory of Steve Jobs at the end. What was that about?

What If I Went Viral?

This question has been bugging me today. What if, either intentionally or (more likely) unintentionally, something I did on the internet went viral and thousands of people started looking me up online. What would people find? Would I like what they found? How much would be my own fault?

I was thinking this after seeing a video that went viral of an American father punishing his teenager by posting a video reply to a Facebook rant about her parents she had done. It didn't take long for people to find his own Facebook page and phone number, etc. While most people were supportive of the father in comments, there were a few people who called the police and child services thinking he was going to harm his kid. He got so many phone calls, he just turned off his phone. He ended up saying if people who knew him wanted to get a hold of him, they knew his email address.

Not that this is particularly unique. Viral videos and posts happen all the time. Basically everyone who's had a Tosh.0 Web Redemption unexpectedly found themselves in the spotlight for something they didn't intend to have thousands (or millions) of people see.

If people were to try and dig up info on me, the most obvious source would be this blog. It's not private and anyone who finds it can read everything. The only people who visit are friends and family, for the most part, and I write my posts expecting that to be my audience. I've been careful not to share things like my address and phone number, but I do recall posting what my personal email address is (after buying my awesome domain). There's other sources of me out there like Twitter (which again is not private), Google + (which no one uses, so no worries there) and the big one... Facebook.

I've been pretty careful to make sure my privacy settings for everything on Facebook are "Friends Only" and that the barest minimum is shared publicly. But every time they change their layout, I find myself having to go through everything again, just to be sure. This latest change to "Timelines" is making it difficult for me to share exactly how I want to share. But I digress.

Anyway, this has motivated me to start going through my online presence and make sure it's "presentable". Just in case the worst (or best) thing happens.

Paying To Watch Commercials

I went to see the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (AKA the commercial awards) tonight at the Princess Cinema. blah blah blah, here are some of my favourites:

Some we are familiar with here in Canada like Chrysler's "Born of Fire", Heineken's "The Entrance", Nike's "Write The Future", Old Spice's "Questions", and FedEx's "Change".

Some that weren't aired here (or that I just had never seen) that stuck in my mind were Logitech Revue's "Kevin Bacon Fan", H2OH! "Braids", Brandhouse's "Love To Meet You", Carlton Draught's "Slo Mo", and Coca-Cola's "Choir".

Enjoy.

Mission Impossible in LieMAX

I went to see the new Mission Impossible movie last night with my friend Josh in IMAX. The movie itself was very good and I enjoyed it thoroughly, as I have pretty much all the Mission Impossible movies (except the awful 2). But I just don't see the big deal with these new IMAX screens they have now at Empire Theatres. It's in a renovated regular theatre, and the screen is pretty much the same size as normal (albeit curved). Now, the picture was great, but it's not like I think that the regular theatre has a bad picture... basically, if the theatre didn't tell me it was IMAX, I would never have known. So, bottom line, no reason to spend more money for this LieMAX experience (I did not come up with that term, I just really liked it).

Fortunately for me, I didn't spend anything, since I was using a free pass I got when a movie I went to in the summer had technical difficulties. So, no harm to me. But if it's my own money, no way will I go to IMAX.

NHL Realignment: I Called It!

According to this article, it'll be 4 conferences, with teams playing teams outside their conference twice (home and away). The top 4 teams from each conference would make the playoffs. The only difference between my suggestion and this is that inter-conference playoffs only happen after round 2, so there's only 1 team per conference left. Also, the teams composing the conferences is different (but I was never stuck on them anyway).

I draw your attention to my post from July 14 of this year.

The best idea the NHL has ever had, and it came from me.

New Music from Big Wreck!

One of my favourite bands, Big Wreck, has gotten back to making new music. I had heard about it this summer, when Ian Thornley was featured in the LCBO magazine for some reason, but it had slipped my mind until I caught their new song "Albatross" on satellite radio a few days ago. I gave it a few listens when I got home and I absolutely love it! I bought the single off of iTunes and added it to my BBM Music profile. Apparently, the new album will be out in the new year and I'm really looking forward to it now.

Not that we've been completely without the Big Wreck style of music since they disbanded in 2002, since Thornley's new band Thornley carried on with a similar sound over their 2 albums, but getting back to the old name with the addition of the Big Wreck guitarist is a nice touch. Side note: I read that the Big Wreck guitarist, Brian Doherty, has been living and teaching guitar in Camlachie. That was kinda cool to find out.

Anyway, add me to your BBM Music friend list to check out the song. Or just go buy it. I'm really happy with the sound of the song... big sweeping guitar melodies that is a signature of the Big Wreck/Thornley sound.

The Muppets

I went to see The Muppets in the theatre this weekend. I usually don't go opening weekends, but I was going to see a show anyway and it was the one I most wanted to see. I had high expectations going into it, and I'm so happy to say that it did not disappoint me in any way. I was so very funny and did the Muppets characters great justice.

While this movie is definitely family friendly (as evidenced by the G rating), adults will get as much (maybe more) enjoyment out of this movie. In fact, when I went on Saturday night, I didn't actually see any kids in the audience. To be fair, it was the late show (9:40pm), so they could have been in the earlier showing.

Do yourself a favour and see this movie. Compared to anything else out there, this one deserves your money. Definately the best movie I've seen in 2011. Although, to be honest, I don't always remember every movie I've seen. I should go back and make a list.

Millennium Force = Barometre of Success

I went to Cedar Point on the last weekend of October this year. It was also the last weekend it was open. They had their Halloweekend thing going on, which I had never been to. I had a great time going with a friend of mine, and enjoyed the haunted houses and walkthroughs they had set up along with, of course, the rides. However, it wasn't all super good. I didn't ride 2 of my favourite coasters, the Millennium Force and Top Thrill Dragster, as it seems I've on the high side of my perpetual yo-yo diet that I seem to have been on for the past, I don't know... 5 years? This even after I went (and rode on everything) back in June of this year. This is a pretty depressing feeling for me, and my second biggest motivator to losing weight. But even a whole month and a half of a heads up for this trip couldn't get me to smarten up and eat right.

I'm at a loss right now of how to get back on the weight loss train in a significant way. I've done it twice before (with less than permanent results, obviously) and maybe the third time will be the charm, as they say. However, it seems I can't bring myself to do this right now for some reason.

Just a bit of a whiny post. Don't mind me.