The World According to Jay

Canadians Shouldn't Be Scared of Mexico

2012-02-09T09:49:00.000-07:00

Those of us in the glorious frozen north like to get away from the cold in the winter when we can. My wife and I certainly do. Those of you who read the drivel I write in this space regularly know that. But media stories about Canadians who get killed, jailed or assaulted in Mexico are scaring some people away from that locale. Allow me, if you will, to debunk some of the fear.

First of all, when you leave Canada you automatically take on some risk no matter where you go. In fact, with the exception of some western European countries, Canada is just about the safest place in the world, so if you exit Canada, chances are that you're going someplace less safe. Want to know what the worst city in Canada was in 2011 for homicide? It was Edmonton, at just over 5.1 homicides per 100,000 people. That was an anomaly from the trend. In 2010 the murder capital of Canada was Winnipeg at 2.82 per 100,000. Edmonton was 2.71. Canada averaged 1.62.

What kind of risk to you take going elsewhere? Take a look at the USA, for starters. The USA's average is almost three times that of Canada's at 4.8 per 100,000. That's the whole country, mind you. What if you travel to some American cities? Let's take a look at them:

New Orleans: 49.1 per 100,000
St. Louis: 40.5
Baltimore: 34.8
Detroit: 34.5
Newark: 32.1

Those aren't typos, folks. Winnipeg: 2.82. New Orleans: 49.1

How about some tourist destinations for Canadians:

Los Angeles: 7.6
Anaheim: 2.1
San Francisco: 5.9
Miami: 15.4
Tampa: 7.8
New York: 6.4
Their capital, Washington DC sits at 21.9.

Mexico's national average is 18. That's the whole country, including the areas around the US border where the vast majority of the violence in Mexico is. It's a good bet that you're safer in Cancun, Cabo, or Puerto Vallarta than in Miami or LA.

What about how Mexico stacks up against some other sunny destinations:
Jamaica: 52
Bahamas: 27
Brazil: 25
Dominican Rep.: 22
Mexico: 18

How many Canadians have been assaulted in other sunny destinations? In the USA 41 Canadians have been assaulted since 2005, 40 killed. Where are the big headlines? Anyone scared to go to Disneyland? 59 Canadians have been assaulted and 13 killed in the Dominican Republic since 2005. 36 Canadians were assaulted and 8 murdered in Jamaica in the same time period. 69 Canadians were assaulted and one murdered in Cuba. All of this is according to Foreign Affairs Canada (and kind thanks to the Globe and Mail for publishing these stats on January 24 of this year).

Compare this to Mexico, where the assaults are higher at 194, but the murders, 24, are less than the USA. Yet the most popular place for Canadians remains the USA, with Mexico second.

In the end, you have to admit that if you're willing to go the USA, you're easily taking as much risk as going to Mexico.

So my wife and I will continue to travel to Mexico every year. Ole!

But that's just the way I see it.

Drunk Driving? People Can't Drive Sober!

2012-02-03T11:06:00.001-07:00

A lot of resources seem to be thrown at the problem of drunk driving. I've given my views on that before (0.05 is not drunk, sorry). But what about how badly people drive sober? My experience is that it's pretty awful pretty often.

No matter what a person's personality they have a different persona behind the wheel. Nice people turn rude. Rude people turn into full-on assholes. I never cease to be amazed by how awful people can get behind the wheel.

My biggest beef with other people is that so many don't bother to signal when they turn, change lanes or use traffic circles. Nothing out there has a greater chance of causing an accident than not signalling. Yet so many people are just too damned lazy to use that little switch that's right next to their hand. You don't have to look to use it.

Speeding is the other dumb choice that causes accidents. People who can't plan their day or get up on time and endanger other people on the road shouldn't be allowed to drive. Especially in a winter climate speeding is seriously dangerous. And I don't mean 5-10 km/h over. I mean 20 km/h or more over. You know who I mean...those morons blasting in and out of lanes and acting invincible. Too bad that they so often take someone with them to the grave.

What about the old person or slow minded fool that drives way under the speed limit all the time? The greatest indication that you don't have the skill to drive is driving super slow. Either that or you're stoned and shouldn't be on the road anyway. How come the cops never do anything about the dawdlers?

Too bad I'm talking about the vast majority of people on the road. No wonder insurance costs so much.

But that's just the way I see it.

Controversial Topic - Should You Take Their Last Name?

2012-02-02T14:51:00.002-07:00

I recently had a discussion with several exceptional young women of my acquaintance about the last name you should take when you get married. To say that the reactions were passionate would be diplomatic.

The odd thing was that the reactions weren't uniform. The women who thought that changing your last name was fine were just as adamant about it as the ones who defiantly stated "I'll never change my last name!" I found the underlaying anger interesting, and have been dying to comment on it via this blog.

The first thing I would note is that times are changing. I would estimate that most men think that when they get married that name change is not something that they have to make a choice about. But they are wrong in thinking that and tend to find out the ugly way. Many women don't make the same assumption. Women are now asking the question, "why should I have to change my last name?"The fact that men haven't had to make that choice and make assumptions leads to that underlaying anger.

We've lived in a patriarchal society for millennia and it shows with respect to this debate. Men assume women will change their name. Women no longer want to. Men who would judge women too harshly ought to ask themselves if they would be willing to change their last name to match that of a woman.

Now my for my opinion, which I'm sure you've been waiting for anxiously. I believe that when two people get married they create a new family unit. Children or not, they are a family. And in my mind, families should have the same last name. And here's the kicker: it doesn't matter what that name is!

When my lovely wife and I got married, I told her that I would take her last name if she didn't take mine. Having the same last name was important to me. She chose, instead, to take my name to avoid the inevitable controversy (and, no doubt, to please me). And 10 years later I don't think she minds having that name. But I would have done the same. Hell, I would have made up a new one if that made everybody happy.

So, what about hyphenated names? Personally, I hate them. Where does that end? If a guy with a hyphenated last name marries a woman with a hyphenated last name they would have 4 last names. In 2 generations that becomes 8 names. All because somebody doesn't want to lose their identity? Personally I think that's selfish and shows a lack of commitment.

How much do you love the person you are going to marry? Enough to take their last name? Enough to lose the last name you've used all of your life? Enough to take an entirely new name? If you are creating a new family unit, then shouldn't the members of that unit share the same family name? We often hear the last name called a "surname". But for many years it was referred to as a "family name". Why is that somehow not important anymore? Forget your identity....what about your family's identity?

Without a doubt the patriarchal nature of this issue should be swept away. There's no way that men shouldn't be faced with the same choice as women always have. This should be a joint decision. But aren't many people just selfishly throwing the baby out with the bath water? Again I ask: how much do you love the person that you are about to commit your life to? Do you realize that you're committing your life to them and the family you are about to create? Do different names or hyphenated names reflect that? Not in my view.

Marriage. This isn't just playing house. This is a life long commitment.

But that's just the way I see it.

5 Funny Things I Saw On Vacation

2012-01-26T09:29:00.001-07:00

Those of you who regularly read the drivel I post on this blog will know that I recently returned from my annual Mexican slothiday. It was a great time, as usual. My wife and I saw some funny things of note, that I will share with you, should you be bored enough to care.

1) First Class Parents, Economy Kids
We saw a lady and her boyfriend/husband/whatever sitting with us up in first class. Their 3 bratty kids aged about 6 to 13 ( and fighting constantly) were bought tickets in economy. Hilarious! Mom and dad wanted to enjoy the flight in luxury and forced the poor slobs in economy to deal with their kids. So selfish and ignorant that you have to laugh.

2) Orded Food From Where?
We were in a pub off the resort and decided to order a snack off of the menu. We noticed that there was no door to anywhere in the back. We wondered where the kitchen was. A while later a guy came up the street from another restaurant with our food, and a bill for the pub!

3) D'Ya Think I'm Sexy?
What is with European men and speedos? Seriously! It doesn't matter what shape you're in you look silly in a speedo. But tell that to the many fat French and Italian men I saw wearing these things. It's so odd that you can laugh so hard while being grossed out.

4) Bitchy Betty
This nickname was invented by another person in the party we were in. This lady was constantly giving shit to the resort staff over every little thing and then trying to spoil other peoples' holiday as they were checking in by telling them how awful the place was. My wife and I thought this was funny since the resort was 5 stars and all 5 of them for sure. Marble luxury everywhere. Great service, premium drinks, clean rooms, manicured grounds, spotless white sand beach. This lady claimed to have owned a jewellery store. Her poor staff!

5) Stupid Jay
Found a soccer jersey I liked in Playa del Carmen. They wanted $100 for it. I talked the guy down to $40. Then saw the same jersey in a shop on the resort for $25. D'oh!

I have 11 months 3 weeks until the next Mexican slothiday. Can't wait! But I find the planning fun, so onward and upward!

But that's just the way I see it.

Mexico 2012: The Good and the Bad

2012-01-24T11:02:00.002-07:00

Being a guy who is still not scared to go to Mexico, I headed back there this year with my wife for the fourth year running. I'm not scared of Mexico because I tend to not get into arguments with people and I comply with authorities. Living in the frozen wasteland has motivated me to make sacrifices to save for that one week every year. It is amazing to think about just how much sacrifice my wife and I make in order to spend one measly week in the hot sun. Still, we go back for more every year because winter here is depressing.

Here's what we love about going to Mexico:

1) It's hot! This year the week we were away it was +28 in the Yucatan with a humidex of +35. At home it was -35. Enough said.

2) All inclusive resorts. You can get these everywhere in the Caribbean....or anywhere that's not the USA. The Mexicans make great beer, though. The vegetables are incredible and the tequila is far superior to the crap available in Canada.

3) Friendly Mexicans. Mexicans remind me of Canadians. Friendly, polite and laid back. These are broad strokes, sure, but this is what we've encountered both on and off the resort. The average Mexican gets a bad rep because of what's happening in northern Mexico with the drug wars. But our experience is that Mexicans are really cool.

Even though we love the hot weather, palm trees and friendly people, there are drawbacks to our annual tropical slothiday. Usually they centre on the stupidity or ignorance of other people. Here's what we don't like about our annual vacation:

1) Europeans. Going to Mexico is making me a bigot. Why is it that so many that I run into who speak French or Italian are so totally rude? Smoking everywhere, never tipping the staff, loud and obnoxious. I prefer the Americans I meet to the Europeans. Yanks get the bad rap, but it's the Europeans who are way worse. Most Yanks I've met are nice.

2) Stupid Parents. What kind of moron brings a baby to an all-inclusive resort? What kind of vacation is that? Face it people, if you have kids your life changes. Trying to pretend that it hasn't is just an ignorant way to inflict your crying brat on everyone else. Please fuck off.

This year we had a great trip. The resort was wonderful, our excursions were fun and the flights were great. A huge thank you to Air Transat for treating us great again this year. Before flying with them 4 years ago I had heard bad things. It's all crap. Air Transat has been great to us each and every time.

This year's rating:

Resort: 9/10
Airline: 10/10
Weather: 10/10
Europeans: -2228/10

We'll be back next year for sure!

But that's just the way I see it.

The Rich DO Pay Taxes!

2012-01-11T11:32:00.001-07:00

Let's get one thing straight: the rich DO pay taxes in Canada. In fact, if you're not rich, you don't pay as much tax as a rich person does. There is a myth out there that the rich don't pay taxes. They do.

Here are the facts based on the latest data available from the Government of Canada (2009):

The top 50% of income earners pay 96% of all the income taxes in Canada.
Those who make $250,000 or more in Canada (0.75% of all taxpayers) pay 21% of all of the income taxes.
The top 5.67% of income earners pay 45% of all income taxes.
The bottom 50% of income earners pay 4% of all income taxes.

(source: Canada Revenue Agency http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/gncy/stts/gb08/pst/fnl/html/st2ca-eng.html )

In a time where people are easily swayed by class envy arguments and anti-corporate sentiments, it is important to keep the facts out there. So many people think that the rich owe them something. Well guess what? The rich are paying through the nose.

What about corporations? Well, let's see what the 2011 Public Accounts of Canada say about how the total tax bill is divided up:

Total tax revenues: $191.4 Billion
Corporate Taxes: $29.9 Billion (15%)
Personal Taxes: $113.4 Billion (56%)
Non-Resident Taxes: $5.1 Billion (2%)
GST: $28.3 Billion (14%)

(source: Public Accounts of Canada, 2011 http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/recgen/pdf/49-eng.pdf )

So of all the taxes paid to the Government of Canada, 15% of them are paid by those evil corporations, and of all income taxes, 96% of all of them are paid by the top 50% of income earners.

The rich pay taxes, my friends. Quit bitching about them.

But that's just the way I see it.

Pipeline Protests Show Enviro-Dishonesty

2012-01-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

Let's get something out of the way for those of you who are just tuning in to this blog: I believe that climate change is real. I even believe that humans are contributing to it, even if they are not the sole cause. After all, science has proven that drastic climate change is nothing new in human history. In fact, it's nothing new in the last 1000 years. But the pace of change is what convinces me that humans are contributing to it this time. That said, I believe that the environmental movement is a haven for those who lost the cold war. It's anti-capitalist, anti-west and anti-human. As Europe's financial crisis has shown, those on the left side of the spectrum have fouled things up just as badly as those on the right side in America have. They just haven't lost any of their high and mighty attitude.

The thing about stopping or slowing climate change is that we don't know for sure that we can. If humans were the sole cause of climate change, then the solution would be to act as a species and reduce our CO2 emissions across the board, regardless of economy or state of progress. But that's not going to happen.

Let's face facts: the USA is not the world's only heavy polluter. In fact, western society has done more to reduce their impact on the environment than anywhere. Attitudes have changed. Transit services are now victims of their own success. Recycling programs are now big business. People's behaviours have been altered and continue to be altered. Is this the same in Russia, China or India? How about other developing countries? If we only reduce CO2 in the west but allow it to grow in the rest of the world will we achieve our goal? No, we won't. We can't. Will the environmentalists admit to any of that? Nope.

Canada is in a position to sell oil to the rest of the world. This is a unique opportunity for both Canada and the rest of the world. Canada can make money selling oil, and the rest of the world (which still wants oil, by the way) can buy oil from a country that doesn't harbour or fund terrorism (or treat women like slaves). If the rest of the world is willing to continue to buy oil, and is unwilling to reduce CO2 (blaming the west instead), then why shouldn't Canada sell oil to them? There's no reason not to. Nobody is taking humankind's contribution to climate change seriously, and that includes the environmental movement. All they want is to stop capitalism. Their actions and policies prove that. If they were serious they'd be as hard on China, India and Russia as they are on Canada and the USA.

So this brings us to the topic of building pipelines to bring Canada's oil to market. Barak Obama made the foolish choice to block a pipeline that would bring oil from Alberta to the USA, thereby keeping the USA addicted to Saudi oil. So Canada wants to build a pipeline from Alberta to the coast so that the oil can be shipped to China. The environmentalists are going nuts. As if every pipeline is an environmental risk. The reality is that there have been oil pipelines in Canada for 50 years, and while the record isn't 100% perfect, it's not the way the eco-mouths portray it. In the absence of nutty enviro-terrorists, they don't tend to cause environmental damage.

As much as oil companies, banks and other capitalist institutions lie to the public, they aren't alone, are they? The environmentalists always seem to give them a run for their money in the fabrication department. Looking at the way they paint Alberta oil vs. how they let China, India, Russia and Brazil off the hook is just one example.

Build the pipeline, sell the oil, get on with business. We're not going to stop climate change because nobody will be honest about it.

But that's just the way I see it.

Dear GOP: There's No Such Thing As Too Moderate

2012-01-06T09:50:00.001-07:00

You want to know why Barak Obama will win the White House again this November? It's because so many in the Republican party can't figure out that the saying "government of the people, for the people" means ALL the people, not just some of the people.

This morning news sites have been flooded with the attacks that GOP candidates are making on their own front runner, Mitt Romney. Apparently Mitt's just too moderate! Gasp!!! You mean he might think that the government might have some kind of role in society? Let's look at Romney's platform, as per his campaign website:

-Reduce corporate taxes from 35% to 25%.
-Maintain current personal income tax rates.
-Eliminate taxes on interest and capital gains for taxpayers with incomes lower than $200,000.
-Long term overhaul to flatten tax rates.
-Exclude CO2 with the Clean Air Act.
-Cost out environmental laws
-Cut non-security discretionary spending by 5%
-Reform medicaid as a block grant to the states.
-Cap Federal spending at 20% of GDP.
-Hard trade stance on China
-Repeal Obama health care reforms

Of course you can see what's missing....nothing about gay marriage or abrtion. How horrible! A Republican presidential candidate that isn't pandering to a narrow religious base? This is incredible considering that Romney is a Mormon and is clearly not in favour of gay marriage or abortion. But these items are not in his platform. This makes him, of course, too moderate for too many in the GOP.

But you can't be too moderate. That's a fact. The majority of votes are always in the centre. Romney clearly sees this. Obama sees this too. Looking at Romney's opponents, it's clear that they don't see it. They see anything other than hardline conservatism as an assault on Americanism.

Look at Ron Paul's platform for enough nuttiness to make jars of Jiffy. He actually blames inflation on the Fed. I would think that a candidate for President would have a better understanding of basic economics than that, but Paul wants to dismantle the Fed entirely. Of course, the fact that every nation in the G20 has a central bank to manage monetary policy doesn't resonate with Paul or his supporters. The fact that America has it's own currency makes a central bank make sense. The central bank setting the prime interest rate is a monetary tool that almost all economists of any stripe agree is a good idea. Not Paul and his ilk. To them this is an infringement on the market. The consequences don't occur to them, just the ideology.

Then there's Rick Santorum. The first issue listed on his website's issues section is about defending the 2nd amendment. Guns! This is his top issue? Pandering to gun owners? Then, of course, he moves on to the standard GOP "repeal Obamacare" that all of them have in their platform, since a failed system that creates poverty is what the GOP thinks is ideologically appropriate for the USA. He then proposes cutting $5 Trillion in federal spending over 5 years. That's an average of a Trillion a year, which would come close to balancing the US's Trillion dollar deficit. Then it's on to Iran.

So Romney, who opposes Obamacare, wants to cut discretionary spending by 5%, and is a Mormon, is too moderate. When looking at Obama's plan to slim down the US military and focus on China, not the middle east, you can see how the parties differ. But Obama's plan just looks better. It's more moderate, and you can't be too moderate.

So Obama will win in November, and it won't be close.

But that's just the way I see it.

Yes, I'm Afraid to Fly!

2012-01-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

You know what I'm sick of? I mean besides Maroon 5's Moves Like Jagger. I'm sick of of people trying to play therapist with me when I tell them my dirty little secret that I'm scared to fly. Yes, I'm scared to fly. So sue me, okay!!!

Here's how it works for me: If I know I have a flight coming up in the next few weeks I will start worrying about it 2 weeks in advance. As the time approaches, the worry will turn to apprehension. Then loss of sleep, then full-on panic.

I do not sleep the night before a flight. The ride to the airport is always very much like what a condemned man must feel when walking to the gas chamber. When I arrive at the airport and check in, the wait to board is always excruciating. I have often found that taking that step from the ramp onto the aircraft to be difficult. Waiting to taxi is like knives in my brain. My heart rate is accelerated. I'm sweating. I'm on the verge of tears.

When the plane starts rolling down the runway and the engines are throttled up I don't just think I'm going to die, I KNOW that I am about to perish. Whoever is next to me, even if I don't know them, will have their hand crushed. I have wept upon takeoff. By the time we reach cruising altitude and the seatbelt light goes off my bladder is so full from my racing pulse forcing blood through my kidneys that I immediately head to the washroom. After I relieve myself I have to try to calm myself. I splash water on my face. I breathe deep. Then I head back to my seat. At this point I manage to relax just a little bit. But any turbulence will send me right back to panic mode.

When I tell people that I am scared to fly I invariably am met with responses of "Oh I LOOOOVE to fly" or "Have you tried (insert know-it-all therapeutic solution)". Here's my response: bugger off! I'm scared to fly, okay? I've tried therapy. Hypnotherapy. Ativan. Gravol. What have you. Nothing has worked. Nothing. The best thing for me is to have a few drinks and grit through it.

I used to work for the Federal government and had to fly across the country for work on a monthly basis. It never got better. I no longer believe that it ever will. I just have to suffer through it if I want to travel. I wish I could rid myself of this irrational, debilitating fear. But I have never been able to beat it. I just have to face it. In a couple of weeks I will depart on my annual tropical slothiday. I'm already losing sleep, so please, don't offer advice. Don't try to fix me. Just pray for my survival to whatever power you believe in.

But that's just the way I see it.

There Isn't A Good Candidate For President

2012-01-02T15:23:00.001-07:00

Welcome to election year! In November of this year the United States will elect their President. Considering the depth of trouble that the USA is currently in, they really need a good candidate for President. The problem is, of course, that there isn't one on order.

Let's look at the incumbent. Democrat President Barak Obama has hardly been impressive in office. His weak effort over healthcare cost his party control of Congress in the midterm elections. He hasn't addressed social security. He hasn't addressed the US' astronomical deficit and debt. His healthcare "reform" fell far short of universal coverage that won't bankrupt you for getting sick. He's taken no action on the environment. He hasn't done much of anything except give eloquent speeches. He's damned good at that, at least. But words and action are not the same thing. He's proven himself to be weak, inept and horrible at selling his vision. And he will likely be re-elected in November.

The Republicans are really no better. While the USA runs a Trillion dollar deficit on an almost 15 Trillion dollar debt (100% of GDP, not including state debts), and has a social security sinkhole that makes that problem rather worse, virtually every GOP candidate still soldiers on against gay marriage. How ridiculous. They continue to pander to a religious base that is increasingly out of date. Many of them want to address the fiscal issues, but only insofar as "entitlements" are concerned. Leave that massive defense budget alone! Don't dare touch the paranoid Homeland Security department either.

Nobody wants to really address the issues that America really needs to address: debt, deficit, social security, financial reform and campaign finance reform. But why save the empire from crumbling when you can pander to a narrow base and bash gays?

None of this is good for the world. Cheering against America is folly. We need to be hoping that they get their act together, and soon.

Too bad they don't have a candidate that wants to do that.

But that's just the way I see it.

Jay's New Year's Message: Take Responsibility For Your Actions!

2011-12-30T12:54:00.001-07:00

You know what I hate? I mean besides socks and sandals. I hate people that don't understand the concept of accountability. You know the type. Those poor "victims" that believe that consequences are things for other people, not them. People that are so self-absorbed that they are blind to their own actions and only care about how people treat them.

I hate people that treat you like shit and then act like you've done them wrong when you don't put up with it, as if the very concept of friendship is based on unconditional love. It's like when the moron with the hatchet attacks a police officer, gets shot dead, and the family blames the cops for murdering their dear sweet boy. Gimmie a freakin break!

I'll tell you another term for "unconditional love". It's called "sucker". Unconditional love is the biggest pile of bullshit ever shoved in the face of humanity. It's for dogs, not humans. If somebody treats you like shit repeatedly, then you are a fool for putting up with it repeatedly. This goes for friends, co-workers or family.

I am more than willing to freely admit that when crossed I turn mean. I know that. But as Christopher Walken said in King of New York, I never killed anybody who didn't deserve it. In my case, I've never killed anybody at all, but I have scraped off people and turned on them in nasty ways if they've had it coming. One of the ways to get me to turn nasty on you is to repeatedly be rude and shitty to me, and then act like you've been done some awful crime when I walk away from you.

I recently learned that the old "Golden Rule" was bullshit. You shouldn't treat people the way you would want to be treated. You should treat people the way that THEY want to be treated. The Platinum Rule. Much better.

There are some people that need to look in the mirror rather than playing the victim. There are some things that you just don't have to put up with. If a family member comes to a family Christmas get-together stoned on meth, you don't have to put up with it. If a friend repeatedly is rude to you, you don't have to tolerate it. There are limits, and that's a good thing. Don't consider yourself an unloving person if you show some tough love or if somebody else's actions just drains the love you had for them right out of you.

If I am still backing you and treating you well, then you know that you're likely still treating me well. And mutual respect and caring is the basis of friendship and family, not this unconditional love nonsense.

In 2012, be good to each other, show each other respect, and treat each other with kindness and caring. And if people don't treat you that way, feel free to be generous with second chances...but you don't have to forgive them infinitely. If you mess up, own up.

Thanks for visiting The World According To Jay....Happy New Year everybody!

But that's just the way I see it.

The Annual Holiday Sickness Strikes Again!

2011-12-28T05:33:00.001-07:00

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I get sick at Christmas time. Between all the family get-togethers and all of the crowded places you end up in, the odds of getting sick are pretty high. I thought that since I work in a place where the words "clean" and "washroom" are never words spoken together that I'd have a pretty revved up immune system. But this year something else happened: my home elliptical machine broke (again....damn you fitness depot!!!) and I've had to use a local gym to get my workouts in. Public gyms are guaranteed to make me sick.

This year it happened on December 27th in the afternoon. One minute I feel fine, the next the flu-like symptoms kick in. The achy skin and joints. The headache. The sweats. I raced home just in time to go through about 5 hours of sickness best described as "violent" before the demon finally broke and abated. To the touch I was burning up. To me, it was positively glacial. My toes were turning blue I was so cold. I ended up dehydrated in that "maybe we ought to take him to the hospital" kind of way. I realized that this must be what it feels like to die of some rotten disease.

My wonderful wife took incredible care of me. It's one thing to say you love someone, it's another to care enough to have good bedside manner. To all of you married people out there....if you're not willing to take care of your spouse when they are sick then you're a selfish piece of crap and shouldn't be married. Straight up. My wife showed just how great she can be.

One final note: Gatorade is the saviour of mankind.

But that's just the way I see it.

2011's Highs and Lows

2011-12-19T10:39:00.000-07:00

There's perhaps a small chance that any of you care a jot about how my year went. So for those of you who are fairly bored in their lives and want some mild entertainment, please read on and find out what I loved and hated about 2011.....

Highs

The Annual Mexican Slothiday
As long as I am able I will take an annual tropical slothiday with my wonderful wife. I hate winter (except for skiing) and it just seems endless up here in the frozen wasteland. 2011's trip was great and we're going back again in 2012. Bob telling the server "surprise me" when asked what we wanted to drink was a moment not to be forgotten. The evil smile on her face made it even better.

Battlefield
Those of you who regularly read the drivel I write on here know that I love the Battlefield series. I spent a lot of time on the Battlefield in 2011. Lost count of the hours playing Bad Company 2 with Mike. Battlefield 3 is my 2011 GOTY and Mike has now acquired a copy. This is why I built a new PC. Yes, I'm a geek at heart.

My Office
Life is always much better when you enjoy the place you work at. 2011 was such a successful year for me at work that I'm wondering how 2012 can top it. Add in the fact that I work with so many cool people in such a laid back environment and you can see how my life rules. Looking forward to many more filthy Fridays.

Turning 40
Life begins at 40 unless you've messed up your life. By this point you should have your own money, a cool place to live, be able to dress, and know what good sex actually is. Thanks to my wife for making my 40th special and getting me the basement beer fridge that any self respecting married man ought to have.

Lows

The Near Miss(es)
Twice in about 30 days I had the near miss. Thanks to Geoff for his quick reaction time. He would have been killed. I only would have been badly maimed. And thanks to myself for my own quick reaction time, since 30 days earlier I most certainly would have died.

LA Noire
I spent years looking forward to this game. What a mess. Epic fail. Enough said.

The Flights To/From Mexico
The time in Mexico is great. The flights suck. I hate to fly because I'm really, really scared to fly. When you add in a screaming child in the row ahead of me...for 6 hours each way...and you have Jay contemplating childicide.

Snow and Mosquitoes
2011 was the year of the blood sucking bug where I live. Couldn't go camping, couldn't sit out on the patio, couldn't walk to my damned car! A rainy, bug filled awful summer after the most snowy, cold winter since 1971. Oh joy! Thanks for making me live here, dear!

Thanks for visiting The World According to Jay!

Have a great 2012 everybody.

But that's just the way I see it.

Canadian Football League Proves That It Is A Joke

2011-12-14T10:53:00.000-07:00

The CFL has always been a little quirky. I mean for years there were two teams in a 9 team league that had the same name! And that name wasn't something common like "Lions" or "Giants" or something you see in every league. Nope, it was "Roughriders". Even when I was a huge fan of this league I thought that was silly. But through the years the CFL has degenerated from a top of the line pro sports league to a meaningless, corrupt, pantomime.

In an 8 team league (9 was too hard to manage apparently), 2 teams have, for the past few seasons, been owned by one man. To make matters worse, officiating in the CFL has gotten so bad that people compare it to soccer.

The rise of Arena football in the US and other options for men who wish to play pro football have pushed the talent levels in the CFL to their lowest levels ever. This league is difficult to watch at the best of times. What could make it worse? Well, this week in the ultimate in blatant, obvious cronyism, the CFL engineered the worst trade in the history of pro sports (or, in this case, semi-pro sports).

The Edmonton Eskimos traded Ricky Ray to the Toronto Argonauts for career backup Steven Jyles (who was once with the Eskimos...who got rid of him), an unproven kicker and a draft pick. In other words, magic beans. There is a very good case to made for Ricky Ray being the best quarterback in the CFL. If not the best, he's close. In a 3 down, wide field, passing league you cannot succeed without a quarterback who can throw at a high percentage. Ricky Ray has shortcomings, but his completion percentages are off the charts.

So what would possess the Eskimos to trade Ricky Ray for nothing? Did they want to move in a new direction? Can't see that since there's no heir apparent. Salary cap issues? Doubtful, since Ray took a pay cut this past season. The real reason has been guessed my many but accepted by few because it makes the entire league worthless if true.

The league engineered this one. The 100th Grey Cup is in Toronto next year. The CFL believes that they can get the Argos to the big game with the top passer in the game. They want to reinvigorate the market in southern Ontario. Anyone who has followed the shenanigans of the CFL knows that this is not inconceivable. It is without a doubt true. Eskimos GM Eric Tillman has proved himself far too adept at being a GM to make such a ridiculous trade with an eye to improving the team. This trade ensures that the Eskimos will be a horrible team for several years.

The obviousness of this corrupt deal seals the fact that the CFL is no longer a league worth watching or supporting. As a guy who grew up bleeding green and gold, that's tough to say. But the truth sometimes hurts.

The CFL is a joke.

But that's just the way I see it.

New Year's Resolutions 2012? You Bet!

2011-12-13T12:19:00.000-07:00

Like I said at this time last year, I really buy into goal setting. So it's time to set my new year's resolutions for 2012. If you actually are so bored that you care to read them, then please continue....

Jay's 2012 New Year's Resolutions

Lose 15 Pounds
I met my 2011 resolution to lose 30 pounds. I've lost a lot of weight, and I thought that 30 would be enough, but it's not. I can see that I still have about 15 more to go. It's time to ramp up the already frequent exercise program by increasing the intensity and mixing up routines. 2011 was a good year for me health-wise, but 2012 is going to be the year where it all comes together. More intense workouts, even better eating and less alcohol are all going to help me get to where I want to be. I can't just have my clothes look nice. I owe it to my wife to look good out of them as well.

Be 17% Less Nice
This is a continuation of the unmet goal from 2011 to be 34% less nice. I only got half way there in my own estimation. I really need to make people earn my kindness more than I have. I will still continue to treat those whom I favour very well, but I'm not opening the door quite so easily this year. I like being good to people, but I matter too. And since I am an exceptional person, I deserve to be treated well. 2012 will see me be much more choosy with respect to who I favour with my kindness. This is for bloody good reason.

Buy a Really Big TV
Why have a 42" TV in your basement when you can have a 55" TV in your basement and a 42" TV in your living room? Makes perfect sense to me. My wife and I really love movies, and I really love video games and football. I don't get these years back so I'm going to enjoy them.

Manage My Time Better
When I get back from my Mexican slothiday in January, I still have some classes to take into March. One of them is a course on time and stress management. I'm hoping that this will be useful and add to my skill set. I need to do better at managing the time I allocate towards socializing versus time at home. The pendulum has swung back towards the home side during the last portion of this year. But I still have friends I want to spend time with. One thing I have to admit is that I haven't spent enough time with some of my long-term friends that I've had for years. That needs to be corrected. I also have made some great friends in recent years that I enjoy being with. One thing I learned in 2011 is who my real friends are. And my wife needs to remain my #1 priority in life. This will require some balance.

Finish My Old Age Planning
I have retirement savings. Two different investment portfolios, actually. But I'd like to add a third this year. I'm not leaving my future lifestyle to chance. I also need to tie off a lingering legal issue: I don't have a will. That has to change.

And just for those of you keeping score, I reached 4/5 of my resolutions for 2011.
Lose 30 Pounds: Goal Met!
Be 34% Less Nice: Goal Not Met.
Stand Up Straight: Goal Met!
Plan My Getaways Better: Goal Met!
Dress Better: Goal Met!

I'm going for 5/5 in 2012!

I hope that all of you have a great 2012. I know that I will. Thanks for visiting The World According to Jay!

But that's just the way I see it.

Christmas Cheer Done Right!

2011-12-12T13:22:00.002-07:00

Now that we're all into the Christmas boozing season (otherwise known as Office Party season), it falls to me, your resident know-it-all to make a silly blog post about the best booze to drink during the happy time.

It's key to remember that during Christmas you are inundated with offers of food and drink. So much of the food is high fat, high calorie deliciousness. But it's so bad for you. So be sure to drink strategically, with this in mind. Your boozing ought not to make matters worse. Remember as well that sweet drinks cause the worst hangovers.

So many people make the mistake of falling into the rum and eggnog trap. That stuff will kill you, though. So full of sugar and fat, the fastest way to gain Christmas belly insulation is to drink rum and eggnog. Stay away from that evil nonsense. You're much better off going with a nice triple gin and tonic. It's a nice thin drink that will help to digest the high fat food you will pack into that stomach of yours.

To ensure that you don't get too drunk too fast or have a lethal hangover, be sure to make every third drink a water. A big, big water. Also, ensure that if you're going to drink both beer and liquor that you drink the liquor first. Don't put liquor on top of beer. You will pay for it.

With respect to beer, also stay away from the heavy stuff. You're going to be fat enough as it is, so stick to the thinner, lighter beers. Those of you who are beer snobs can really, truly kiss my ass as well. I like Bud Light, Bud Light Lime, Coors Light and Corona. You guys can stick to your sour, bitter tasting microbrewery crap just to look cool. But phoney sophistication don't impress-a-me much.

Some of us will spend a few evenings doing light boozing with wine. Red wine can be an awful hangover causer, though, so try to track how much you drink. Keep an eye on the alcohol content of the wines you drink this season. Those 12.5-13%ers are always a good bet. The heavier stuff should be reserved for dinners heavy on red meat. For wine drinking alone, stick to the lighter fare.

Finally, plan your boozing ahead of time. There is never a good reason to get behind the wheel drunk (and no...0.05 isn't drunk). Christmas is always the heaviest enforcement time, so just stay at a friend's or cab it home. Stay safe, treat each other well, and have a good time. Oh...and if you're an angry drunk, just stay home and let the rest of us have some fun.

Cheers!

But that's just the way I see it.

Personal Standards Still Matter!

2011-12-09T17:28:00.000-07:00

In an age where people insist on screwing themselves over by getting into 35 year mortgages at variable rates, hoping for the best, and then blaming banks when things go south, I'm not surprised that so many other standards keep falling by the wayside. Keeping a set of personal standards with respect to how you live your life isn't always easy. Sometimes there are tough choices that have to be made.

I've noticed an alarming decline in values among people of all ages. I don't mean old school Sunday church values. I'm happy to see some of those decline. I mean things like personal hygiene and manners. I mean what happened to personal grooming? Men who don't bother trimming their nose hairs. People who don't cut their nails. Women who wear dresses or skirts without shaving their legs. People who don't see the dentist and have that crusty smile. Men who don't wash their hands after using the lavatory. Pardon me while I puke.

Also, whatever happened to manners and interpersonal ability? Things like please, thank you, hello and goodbye seem to be on the decline. George Carlin was right to make fun of people for thinking they can save the planet when they haven't even learned to care for one another yet. The man was brilliant.

I've gotten into trouble as of late for being too harsh on some people. While it's true that I have had a busy and stressful fall, winter...year...only part of it is to blame for my snappiness. I'm just plain fed up with rudeness. I take a lot of pride in the fact that I treat people that I am on good terms with very well. I've been accused of being overly nice. I've been called weird, creepy, strange and numerous other things for the crime of asking people how they are doing and paying them well deserved compliments. I like to encourage people I get a long well with and I make acquaintances easily. But I find that making long term friends is much more difficult because I keep sticking to these damned standards.

But when it comes to all of these things I can only say that if you don't like it, look in the mirror. Tough shit, I'm not going to change any time soon.

But that's just the way I see it.

Managing Our Social Media Distractions

2011-12-06T10:05:00.000-07:00

Let's face it: very few of us get paid to spend time on facebook or Twitter. Yet so many of us are on these social media sites all the time. And by all the time I mean ALL THE FREAKIN' TIME!

This, my friends, isn't healthy. I am as guilty as anybody else. I have tried many times to quit facebook. But like a bad relationship I just can't seem to quit this bitch. So instead of quitting, I've tried to simply manage the distraction.

Before I start into managing facebook, I need to mention Twitter. I tried out Twitter a while back this year. I found it completely unmanageable. Especially since I am one of the remaining few who still doesn't have a smart phone. If I wanted to keep track of everything I would follow on Twitter I would have to be on Twitter every moment rather than do work or be married. So my Twitter account just sits there dormant. I haven't been on Twitter for about 4 or 5 months now and there's very little chance that I'll go back.

With respect to facebook, there is an unfortunate reality. This social media site has replaced nearly every other means of communication that people have with me. People don't phone me or email me, they send me messages on facebook. I still have a few friends who have never joined facebook, and they still communicate with me in human ways. My wife has never joined facebook and angrily refuses to because she thinks it's unsafe, un-secure, and a career limiting move. Maybe she's right. She's more than just a pretty face.

I think that what turns some people away from facebook is the fact that it is ultimately very addictive. It's a huge time-waster, and can make life rather unproductive. Really, it can be a huge burden. I mean, if you have 867 friends on facebook, how in the world do you keep track of all of them? And if you're only subscribed to those who you care to follow, then why have the rest of them anyway? Furthermore, if you have people on your list who have 867 friends, then what makes you think that they even catch anything you post?

So I came up with a goal of reducing my exposure to facebook. I have tried in a number of different ways to make this happen, but what allowed me to reduce my time on facebook was reducing the number of friends on my list. After all, the fewer distractions I have, the less I will be distracted. I can't check up on people I don't have access to. I can't get lost reading all of the meaningless shit that gets posted by people if those people's posts aren't available to me.

So I got out the scalpel and started cutting. Actually, it was more like a chainsaw than a scalpel, since I started hacking and slashing like a Republican congressman on a food for the poor program. Now, I admit that I hurt some people's feelings, which wasn't my intent. But that may have been unavoidable. I cut some people I like. I cut some people I really like, but I never talk to. I cut some people that just post too much shit all the time. I had to have some criteria. By keeping my friends list to those who are close friends, family, and some co-workers, I have found that while I may keep facebook open in the background a lot, my temptation to check it all the time has been greatly diminished. That's a lifestyle success story for me. So if I hurt your feelings, please forgive me. I'm in the phone book. Call me and we can talk in person.

But that's just the way I see it.

Movie Review: Margin Call

2011-12-05T18:23:00.000-07:00

I love a movie with a strong cast. Great actors can make up for so much when it comes to screenplays. Margin Call, thankfully, has both a strong screenplay and an exceptional cast. The subject matter might be too complex or outright boring for some, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, I can't see this not being in my top 5 for the year.

Margin Call is a fictitious look at the beginnings of the financial meltdown in 2008. All of the details are there, but the company and the names are fiction. In some ways it is rather too simple, but those in the audience who are not trained financiers won't know that. We see a company that has over-leveraged itself on toxic assets that have made them a lot of money. As the crunch comes they have to start the sell-off. Lives will be ruined. The market will be devastated. Those who have to make these awful choices are the focus of the film.

The entire movie takes place over the course of less than 24 hours. From the firing of large numbers of staff to the upper boardroom struggles over how to save the company (and for some, the ethics of doing so) Margin Call puts a human face on an issue that most only see as faceless. We see how easily these choices come for some, and how difficult and gut-wrenching they are for others. As the story progresses we see the pressure mount, and the internal power plays that no doubt occur in a situation like that.

A superior cast led by Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany and Zacchary Quinto put in compelling performances. Supported by the great Jeremy Irons as well as Stanley Tucci, Simon Baker and Demi Moore, Margin Call has one of the best casts in film this year. Every performance is excellent and it all helps to make the complex subject matter engaging.

If you really like great acting and smart subject matter, you owe it to yourself to see this film.

8.5/10

But that's just the way I see it.

Keys To Enjoying The Christmas Season

2011-12-02T09:10:00.000-07:00

The first weekend in December is always the weekend when my wife and I kick off our Christmas. The tree goes up, the lights go up, the music goes on and all of that. We spend a great portion of the day decorating and watching great Christmas movies like Love Actually. I don't like starting Christmas before December. Four weeks of holiday cheer is fine, a fiscal quarter is a bit much.

I think that we've found a pretty good formula for actually enjoying Christmas. And just a side note here...to me it's Christmas, not "The Holidays" or "The Holiday Season" or "The Festive Season", or "Festivus for the rest of us" or any of that. To me Christmas is both a religious and secular holiday. Enjoy it whichever way you choose. Baby Jesus or Santa and Rudolph. Or both. Your choice. But Christmas is an established part of our culture that we should protect and embrace, not water down in the name of inclusion. I have always believed in tolerance, but I also believe in adapting to the place you've relocated to, not the other way around. And if you're offended by Santa or Baby Jesus, you're a moron. Please advance straight to hell, do not pass "Go", do not collect $200.

Here are some keys to enjoying your Christmas:

1) Do your Christmas shopping early.
Nothing will ruin your Christmas like a shopping mall. The pressure to finish shopping when you've left it too late brings out the worst in people, which is the opposite of the spirit of Christmas. Crowded stores, packed parking lots, and awful people do not represent Christmas to me.

2) Don't listen to the naysayers.
I love Christmas. I love the fact that Christmas is commercialized. This doesn't represent greed, it represents giving and generosity. Sure, loads of dollars get spent, but it's all on other people. I think that's great. A whole season based around giving gifts to each other. What the hell is wrong with that?

3) Don't overexpose yourself to Christmas music.
There is some great Christmas music out there. But there must be only about 20-30 standard songs that get done over and over. I love certain songs and certain versions. But too much can leave a saccharine taste in my mouth.

4) Give to charity.
Christmas is about giving and forgiveness. There's also a nice undertone of accountability that many miss. We're all in this together. Help somebody out this Christmas. Give to a local shelter, or to the Humane Society, or a children's hospital. All of this adds up and that matters. I have found that it always makes me feel very good to help people. Some things are too harsh to stomach, but I can always give my money, and I do.

5) Take care of yourself.
For the love of yourself...take a break at Christmas. Look after yourself. Don't let others over plan you, don't let others bully you into doing what they want. Take some "me" time. Christmas for so many is just not relaxing or refreshing. That's sad, since it's a big holiday. Having family always complicates matters, but plan things out in advance. Don't make things hard on yourself. Ask for help if you need it and accept it if it's offered. Get some sleep, get some sex, get some exercise, and don't over-eat. Avoid the guilt.

Have a great Christmas season everybody. Be good to each other, and don't be a downer. Thanks for visiting The World According to Jay.

But that's just the way I see it.

We Need A More Sober Approach To Drunk Driving

2011-12-01T08:58:00.000-07:00

Allow me to disagree with the coerced conventional wisdom on impaired driving. A drink with dinner does not mean that you are too intoxicated to drive. There. I said it. Go ahead....crucify me.

Right now, the Government of Alberta is working a bill through the legislature that would increase the penalties for driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.05. But I'm sorry to break it to all of these eager beavers who are frothing at the mouth, but for most folks, 0.05 is not intoxicated. It's not drunk.

The concept that any alcohol in your system is too much is one that is easy to embrace by those thinking emotionally and not rationally. But the impairment that comes from a drink with dinner is nothing compared to all sorts of legal activities. How about driving home after a 12 hour shift when you didn't sleep the night before? How about after taking a cold remedy? If I crash on my friend's couch and then walk back to my car in the morning when my blood alcohol level is below 0.05, with a lethal hangover, and drive home, is my reaction time any better than after I have had a few pints at the pub after work? I guarantee that that is not the case.

Does anybody out there even know what 0.08 feels like let alone 0.05? I'll wager that most people don't. But for most you'll get to 0.05 after having a glass of wine with dinner. You can slice it or dice it any way you want, but nobody will convince me that this impairs my ability to safely operate an automated motorcarriage. Yes...I can hear heads exploding right now after reading this. But I stand by it, and I think that most people out there agree with me. There are better ways to make our roads safer. And it doesn't start with draconian, emotion-based public policy.

If we kept the limit at 0.08 and actually enforced it more often, it would do much more to stop drunk driving. Where I live I see a Checkstop about once every 5 years. And always during Christmas. This infrequency does nothing but let people know that as long as they don't drive erratically, they'll get away with it. Are we doing all we can to make drinking and driving a less attractive option? Are we making public transit a viable means of transport to and from popular watering holes? Do we regulate parking lots to ensure that when you park at 9PM that you don't have to have your car out of there by 6AM? Would it be too much trouble to come up with a field sobriety test that people can administer to themselves?

So, by moving to a hard line at 0.05, we are accomplishing absolutely nothing in terms of making our roads safer. We will punish people who aren't too intoxicated to drive, as well as hurt the bottom lines of responsible liquor serving establishments and the hardworking staff employed there. I'm not saying that we shouldn't punish those who get behind the wheel when intoxicated. I'm saying that intoxication is not at 0.05 and that it takes many forms that we don't punish. It's time to start thinking about this issue in a more sober, innovative way.

Folks, this is just bad public policy that panders to people thinking on an emotional level. I expect better out of my government.

But that's just the way I see it.

Battlefield 3: 2011's Game of the Year!

2011-11-30T12:49:00.001-07:00

It happened 6 years ago. A friend introduced me to Battlefield 1942. That game had been around for a while at that point, but was new to me. I had convinced myself that I could not play games in a first person perspective. In fact, I had experienced nausea while trying several fps games. But Battlefield....this was something different. This was addiction defined.

Later that year Battlefield 2 was released. I spent so much time playing this game that it is obscene to think about. Well over 300 hours online, killing, being killed and capturing flags. The levelling up, the unlock able weapons, the huge maps with so many places to plant yourself. The great map designs. This wasn't the best game of all time, but this was something I had not seen before. An online only game that defined was online gaming should be.

This year, Battlefield 3 was released. In an effort to keep balance in my life I haven't spent as much time online as I would like. But I've still put a good 20 hours into BF3, and it is definitely the game of 2011. The map designs are, for the most part, exceptional. The addictive levelling and unlocks are there. The point scoring system rewards teamwork and support play as much as straight up killing. The graphics are incredible. The PC I built this fall runs it smooth as can be too.

The funny thing is that this game has a host of technical issues that hold it back and yet it's STILL the game of the year and not to be missed. I play the PC version because the maps are bigger and the player count hits 64, not 24. The console versions, which are also exceptional, have scaled down maps and smaller player counts. This gives the game more of a Bad Company 2 feel, but that's fine by me, since I loved that game as well.

I was hesitant to get into BF3 because I had serious concerns with EA's Origin system. This is their competitor to Steam, and it's very intrusive. Origin is required to play the PC version of BF3. But I am very glad that I got into BF3. It is an exceptional experience that will continue to improve with support from the developer, DICE. With an expansion due within 2 weeks, I can see my time on the Battlefield growing by large leaps in the near future. And when games cost so much money, several hundred hours over a year seems like an exceptional value.

Jay's 2011 Game of the Year: Battlefield 3

Honourable mentions:
Batman Arkham City
Saints Row the Third
Rocksmith

But that's just the way I see it.

Jay's Fall Report Card

2011-11-29T11:23:00.000-07:00

I'm tired. I'm glad that I lost all of that weight and got semi-into-shape. Otherwise I just wouldn't have the energy to deal with all of the things that I've inflicted on myself this fall and winter.

I've mentioned before that when you heap a pile of projects and socializing on yourself that you have to practise good time management skills. Since September I've been taking classes on some weekends, which has kept me away from home a lot. Six weekends out of twelve I've been in a classroom. Add in a busy work schedule and you have a very tight squeeze for spending time with my wife and seeing friends. I think that I've had a hard time striking that balance. Concessions, therefore have to be made for the greater good.

I need to eliminate certain distractions. One thing that I've found distracting is facebook. I've had far too much distraction flowing from that source. In an attempt to reduce that distraction, I've massively reduced the amount of friends I have on facebook. I'm now limiting it to close friends who actually bother to contact me in other ways, family, and some co-workers. I've also cut people who I never talk to on or offline and some people who have flat out worn out their welcome through a combination of their own actions. I'm not interested in giving people unlimited chances to treat me like shit.

A characteristic that makes a good grown-up is their ability to properly process feedback. This is not an easy task. But the feedback that I've gotten from those closest to me is that I have not managed my personal time well in the last 3 months. Professionally, it's been golden, but personally, there's more rust than anything else. So it's time for re-assessment and to re-focus on what really matters. That's my wife, my family, and those close friends who treat me like I'm a friend, not someone to simply get attention from.

I'm looking forward to concluding the projects that I have on the go at work prior to Christmas. Some of them have been rather stressful. I've made it through my fall class load without going grey, so the holiday break will be a welcome addition to my life. In the meantime, I really need to spend some time de-stressing with my wife, who similarly seems to be on the back end of that six-month stress cycle.

So I'll give myself the following report card for September - November 2011:

Work: A
Time Management: C
Finances: A+
Being a Good Husband: B-
Being a Good Friend: A-
Battlefield 3: C+

Have a great December everybody. Thanks for visiting The World According to Jay

But that's just the way I see it.

Canada Is Right To Pull Out Of Kyoto

2011-11-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

I love to joke with people about global warming. I live in the frozen wasteland, so obviously I'm burning all the styrofoam I can find. But the reality of climate change is that regardless of whether humankind is causing it, helping to cause it, or doing nothing to cause it the result will be the same. We're going to have the consequences in the end. Period. Well, Kyoto is set to expire next year and Canada won't be renewing. This, my friends, is the correct choice.

The Kyoto Protocol that Canada's Liberal government signed nearly 15 years ago was never implemented to even a small degree. Not by the big-talking Liberals, not by the Conservatives, not by the Provinces. The Liberals were always very astute at public relations when it came to the environment, but they never bothered to back any of it up with public policy. In fact, the Conservatives have done more in that regard than the Liberals ever did. Was it the Liberals who gave us a tax break for public transit? Nope. That was Stephen Harper. But I digress...

The biggest flaw in Kyoto was that it didn't reflect reality. If humankind is causing or helping to cause climate change, then it will do absolutely nothing to stop it if we say that only some countries have to cut CO2 emissions. ALL countries will have to seriously cut emissions. We shouldn't punish developed countries either. Countries like Canada, Australia, the UK, France, Germany and the USA are big polluters, but have come a long way in terms of environmental regulation, fuel efficiency for automobiles and recycling. I see far less plastic litter around my city than I did when I was a kid in the 70's. I go to Mexico and the highways are lined with plastic. Litter may not cause global warming, but it's a good indicator of attitudes. Developed countries are moving in the right direction and don't get enough credit for it.

So if the entire planet's emissions have to come down, then why exempt other big polluters because they are developing? Will it achieve your goal to exempt India, China and Brazil? Of course not! And how ridiculous was it for people to try to sell that bill of goods to the public? It's grandstanding bullshit.

Now we get to the real scam behind Kyoto. If a country like Canada were to implement Kyoto, then Canada would be able to buy the right to emit CO2 from a country that hasn't used their quota. So Canada keeps emitting, and the developing country gets Canada's cash. No wonder all the lefties supported this nonsense. Of course none of them want to go take a hard look at the environmental record of the Soviet Union from 1960-1990. But that's the mindset behind the most hardline environmentalists. Let's make no mistake about it. Kyoto was the perfect expression of the environmental movement's anti-capitalist shadow brokers. They lost, thank God.

If we're going to get serious about reducing CO2, then it has to be done on a global scale, and scaled globally. That means that everybody cuts the same percentage to reach the same percentage reduction. Nobody is punished any more than anybody else. No wealth transfer, no anti-capitalist bullshit. Just a real problem addressed.

Think India, China, Brazil or Russia will go for it? Neither do I. That's why Canada is right to say "no" the the environmentalists. But we need to prepare for the consequences. Now I'm going to go work on my November suntan.

But that's just the way I see it.

Some Ridiculous Online Behaviours

2011-11-27T15:13:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I really like looking down on the 95%. The fact of the matter is that they make it easy. And it's getting easier all the time. In an age when people spend as much time in a virtual world as they do in the real world, I can't help but make some funny observations. I know what you're thinking, and yes, I'm a tremendous snob. I take a certain amount of pride in that, and compliments will get you everywhere!

So, without further delay, here are some ridiculous online behaviours I see....

Texting or chatting with someone who is in the same room.
How about texting people at the same table? Why not go old school and, you know, talk n stuff? No wonder conversations with so many people are becoming so dull. They're out of practise.

"Liking" your own comment on facebook.
Clearly you like it. You posted it. This one is too funny. Did they think that there might be someone who didn't clue in to the fact that they like their own opinion?

Believing that manners don't matter online.
Simple things like "please", "thank you", "hello" and "goodbye" are good things to keep doing online. The fact that you're online doesn't make you 10 feet tall and invincible either. And if you're chatting online and have to leave, say you have to leave, don't just abandon people in mid conversation.

Posting the drunk party pictures online using your real name.
Talk to an experienced human resources professional about how easy it is for them to find this stuff online. Making your career limiting moves available for public consumption is dumb, dumb, dumb. The amount of changes I made to my online behaviours after talking to a 20 year HR pro were staggering. And don't be a jerk. Don't post pictures of other people online without their consent.

But that's just the way I see it.

Will The Occupy Movement Pay For The Cleanup?

2011-11-22T18:54:00.000-07:00

Just like with all anti-capitalist hacks, the dishonest losers camped out on private and public property calling themselves the "Occupy" movement want to protest, but shirk responsibility.

What each and every municipality that has had to deal with these smelly ingrates should do is present their lawyers with a bill for services rendered. Policing, sanitation, and cleanup. Cleanup being paramount.

Do any of us think that when these "I don't know what I'm protesting but it feels good" people finally leave their campsites that they will clean up after themselves? If you do, you're crazy. They won't. They are there to try to look intelligent and intellectual without actually being either.

This movement has been well funded. Lawyers have made a killing off of this nonsense. The people funding and backing this movement should ensure that the cost of their actions is paid for by themselves.

I guess we all know that responsibility isn't the name of the game for them, is it?

But that's just the way I see it.

I May Look Creepy, But You Look Cheap!

2011-11-20T07:54:00.003-07:00

I think guys in pink look ridiculous. But every October millions of men put on items of pink in support of breast cancer research. This is a good thing. We see it in professional sports, with the NFL being huge supporters. But fast forward one month and what do you get?

In November millions of men (again, men, not women) grow moustaches in an attempt to raise money for prostate cancer research. Of course, this is a good thing as well. But what's easier to raise money for? As a guy who has participated in Movember, I can tell you it isn't the men's health issue.

So for the crime of growing a cheezy 70's porn 'stache in support of a worthy cause, I get the daily insults, the laughing and the being told I look like a creepy pedophile...all by girls. None of whom have bothered to donate a dime. Not one. I guess some issues are more worthy than others.

So remember before you laugh at that guy's moustache that one in seven men will develop prostate cancer during their lifetime. 70 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in Canada every day. Got a guy you care about? You don't have to give money, that's your choice. But laughing at and insulting men for their efforts to beat this horrible disease is beyond disgusting.

So I may look creepy, but you just look cheap. So laugh it up.

But that's just the way I see it.

The Importance of De-Stressing

2011-11-16T09:50:00.002-07:00

Here's a scary image....Jay careening down the street in his Toyota at breakneck speed.....eyes ablaze...sweat pouring off his brow....the insanity complete. Screeching to a halt on his lawn only to be pulled out of his car by a weapon-drawn police officer while a SWAT team rappels down the side of his home. Which traffic law was broken? All of 'em. Who got hurt? Too many to count. How long will Jay be in jail? Well, this is Canada, so about 10 days.

To ensure that I don't snap and make this sort of thing a reality, I have certain techniques that allow me to de-stress from the things that make my shoulders rigid and my blood pressure dangerously high. You see, people piss me off. As part of the 5% ( a different blog will explain this), I must go through life putting up with the reality TV and supermarket tabloid-fuelled idiocy of the 95%. We live in an age where accountability is a bad word. I hate that.

All of us have stresses in life. Smart people have more, because they deal with the stupid people all the time. You know that saying "ignorance is bliss"? Well, truer words were never spoken. Add that to the stress of deadlines and pressure to deliver and perform. The stresses of relationships pile on top of that, don't they? Not that they aren't worth it, but it's not always rainbows and rivers of chocolate. If you add in a stretch of time without much downtime you have the mix for an emotional explosion.

Several things allow me to avoid going over the cliff. I see a massage therapist once a month. I withdraw from my social life sometimes and just get addicted to a good video game or book. Sometimes the social life is where it's at and you can seriously blow off some steam. But I'm learning that when you're at your wit's end, a night out at the club might not be the best idea because you're not thinking clearly. Add alcohol and you have a recipe for making an ass of yourself or saying something you will regret. I also like to take one week of my holidays and split them up into single days and give myself some long weekends during busy periods. This has been a smart choice.

And that's the key, isn't it? To get back to thinking clearly. The one thing that stress does is cloud your thinking. You become over-emotional. Stress always carries anger and fear. Especially bad stress. I signed up for a very busy Q4 2011. I knew what I was getting into. But that doesn't change the fact that I have to put my de-stressing skills to the test. This involves time-management, patience and good choices. Resisting the temptation to see the worst in things is the biggest challenge for me when my soul becomes exhausted from work, learning, helping others and the pressure I put on myself. And I admit, sometimes I am very unfair to myself. I had a coach tell me that the definition of burnout was "soul-exhaustion".

So what do you feed your soul to keep it healthy? I jettisoned religion a few years back. I believe that the universe is indifferent. For me it's about interactions. Do I spend time with the right people? Most often, yes. Sometimes, not really. And making sure that you're spending time with the people that feed your soul is a huge deal to me. Your spouse, your friends, your acquaintances, yourself...all of them matter. But the balance between that and everything else is hard to strike.

Do you give yourself time to yourself? The time when you can be quiet, think, and listen to what your body tells you? Honestly, I don't seem to ever get much of that, and it's dangerous. One of the things that I will try to do to get through this crazy time is to spend more time with my wife, and more time by myself. I have certain friends that I will spend targeted time with, and others that I will consciously avoid because it's not what I need right now. Time to put those time-management skills to the test. In the end, I'll be successful because I know the importance of de-stressing and treating myself well. And I'm worth it because I am a truly exceptional member of the 5%.

But that's just the way I see it.

6 Stupid Things I See At Random

2011-11-15T09:10:00.000-07:00

In the absence of anything substantive to talk about (I could complain about the idiot drivers who still think it's summer when the first snowfall hits....but I won't), I'll give you some random musings about things I see that I think kinda suck.

Guys Who Shave Designs Into Their Hair
Seriously...this always looks stupid. Do you think you look cool or dangerous? You don't. You look silly.

Those Big Stretched Out Ear Plugs
C'mon man! This is just gross. What's next? A bone through your nose? Just....don't.

Occupy Protesters
How about this: Occupy a workplace. Get a job ya lazy dope fiend!

Putting Fashion Before Warmth
It's -15 Celsius, it's snowing and you're concerned with messing up your hair gel? God, I have to find ways to take advantage of people this stupid.

Wearing Sunglasses Indoors
Even rockers and movie stars look like arrogant douchebags when doing this. Nothing says "I take myself too seriously" like wearing sunglasses indoors. What? Hiding those red eyes? Sorry...not fooled.

Fake Urban Guy
These Vanilla Ice wannabes always make me laugh. The cheezy haircut...the gold chains and bling...the ultra baggy pants...the wifebeater. Ha ha ha...losers!

Have a great day everyone. Thanks for visiting The World According to Jay.

But that's just the way I see it.

Protesting Students At Penn State Should Be Ashamed

2011-11-12T17:09:00.000-07:00

Joe Paterno has coached the Penn State football team for more than 40 years. A beloved figure among students, staff and alumni, Joe Pa was fired this week amid a scandal involving his former defensive coordinator's sexual abuse of boys. Joe Paterno was made aware of an incident and didn't follow up. Now that the scandal has been made public, Paterno, along with the president of the college have been fired. Students have protested. Those students need to re-think their anger.

If you become aware of any incident involving the sexual abuse of a minor, you don't make a half-assed effort. You call the police. Immediately. Paterno merely called the athletic director and a college VP. After nothing happened he continued to do nothing. What's that old line? Evil is possible when good men stand aside and do nothing? Could there be a better example of this?

Former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky has been accused of molesting 8 boys over 15 years. If Paterno knew about it and did not call the police, then he deserves to be fired. That's true regardless of how long he's been the coach, or how many games he's won. Paterno is no longer coach, and the two people he reported his knowledge to have been charged. How can you protest this?

What if it were somebody you loved? A son, daughter, friend? Protesting Paterno's firing shows a callous disregard for all victims of sexual abuse. These students should be ashamed of themselves.

But that's just the way I see it.

Movie Review: J. Edgar

2011-11-12T11:35:00.000-07:00

Those of you who thought that the most strange man in American history was Nixon, think again. J. Edgar Hoover, according to Clint Eastwood's vision, exceeds even tricky Dicky in the weirdo department.

Eastwood's "J. Edgar" is a long and interesting film about the man who built and ran the FBI for more than 40 years. Some may critique the film for not being harsh enough on Hoover, but I would disagree. The film doesn't caricature Hoover, as the easy way would be. Instead the film makes him human and pitiable.

Hoover was a man who hoarded information and became one of the most powerful people in American history. He understood that knowledge is power, and he exploited information for his own purposes. The film doesn't shy away from these facts, but it still manages to delve into Hoover the man and seeks to expose and illustrate the complexities and underlaying issues that he had. A man who lived with his domineering mother until she died, Hoover had personal issues to contend with that influenced his behaviour. Eastwood doesn't pull any punches in this regard. Whether it was his need for fame and credit or his secret love for another man, Hoover's inner turmoil is displayed on screen via a great performance from Leonardo DiCaprio.

J. Edgar moves back and forth between different time periods. The story is told through Hoover's dictation of a biography in the late 1960s. It flashes back to the communist bombings of 1919, the Lindberg baby kidnapping, the election of Roosevelt and the depression, and the Kennedy era. At each step it shows Hoover's paranoia about communism, his determination to crush organized crime, and his exploitation of information to control his superiors. The film also explores Hoover's relationship with his closest associate Clyde Tolson, played by Armie Hammer, who played the Winklvoss twins in The Social Network. This difficult love relationship is speculative, and Eastwood may take some liberties here, but the film uses it to great effect.

It would have been very easy for Clint Eastwood to have made an unbalanced film about a character so reviled in pop culture history. Instead, he explores the complexities of the man, gives credit for his innovations and achievements, while also exposing his corruption. At almost 2 and a half hours, the film does run a little long, but it is definitely worth seeing if you like intelligent film.

8/10

But that's just the way I see it.

Reality's Sharp Rebuke of Dumb Socialism and Capitalism

2011-11-09T10:33:00.001-07:00

I once heard a great man named Peter Lougheed say that politicians should run to the centre. He was right because not only is that where the votes are, but that's where the good policy is. Let's examine the records of both the left and the right in western democracies, shall we?

In the United States, unchecked lack of regulation in finance led to the worst economic downturn since the great depression. This downturn was global, not local. The funny thing is that they haven't learned their lesson. Okay, maybe that's not so funny. The left is of course delighted with the USA's failure to properly regulate capitalism. Of course the harsh mirror of reality is now staring back at them, isn't it?

Europe is one big giant mess of socialist debt. It seems that government taking care of you from cradle to grave while you have 3 hour lunches every day isn't the way to go either. While Europe has stuck its nose in the air for decades when passing judgement on the good old US of A, they've been building up more debt than anyone. That debt is now a far worse crisis than anything that originated in the US in 2008. Of course, their solution to the problems isn't to actually re-think the premise of their system. Nope, it's to extend more debt! In Greece, austerity plans caused riots and gnashing of teeth. Italy's Prime Minister is about to be deposed. None of them really want to take the difficult choices that will put them on the right track.

The IMF's Christine Legarde, former Finance Minister for France, stated today that the world risks a "lost decade" of little to no growth because of this crisis. No kidding. Even responsible spenders like Canada are now pushing back their balanced budget projections. No doubt Canada's inept dog-and-pony-show opposition will try to spin this as Stephen Harper's fault. Pardon me while I roll my eyes.

Former Alberta Premier Lougheed was right. The centre is where it's at. It's the place where flexibility is allowed. It's the place where ideology doesn't blind you, and where judgemental thinking is lost. Its a place where regulation is okay...under good regulation, and government has a place in our lives...just not every place.

I'm happy I live in a country that seems to get that. Too bad neither the USA nor Europe do. And we're all going to pay for it. Of course they've now come to us with hat in hand. Good on Harper for saying no. With friends like them who needs enemies?

But that's just the way I see it.

Scrape 'Em Off!

2011-11-08T11:42:00.000-07:00

Ever have a conversation like this?

You: "How's it going?"
Them: "Terrible/awful/shitty/lame/bad...(insert sad sack story)"

I know several people for whom I can no longer muster the courage to ask how they are faring in life. The answer is always negative. The story is always a recycled version of how hard done by they are. Their desire for attention and sympathy knows no bounds.

The solution: scrape 'em off.

We all get into the habit of asking people how they are. Often we don't really care about the answer, we just want to be friendly. When you've built a relationship with someone, you begin to actually care about the answer. And at that point a sad story might cause some real sympathy. But for someone who you count as an acquaintance, not a friend, what's the point of them sharing their life story with you? You don't care. Be honest, you don't.

But how do you scrape 'em off without having the people you actually give a damn about thinking that you're a mean spirited jerk? Well, the first course of action is to stop asking how they are. When approached, say hello and continue on with whatever you are doing. When they volunteer the sad sack story without you asking, then it's time to pull out both barrels. They have it coming. Fire away. Believe me, they won't volunteer that again. Tell them how negative they are. Tell them how much fun they could be if they actually stopped craving attention through sympathy. I guarantee you that nobody has done this with that sad sack, so you are doing them a favour. If they continue down that road they will never be happy, and they will prevent all sorts of happiness in others.

I have a policy of holding up the mirror for people and letting them see the truth of themselves. I appreciate it when others do this to me (something I really didn't appreciate when I was young). You see, I was once that sad sack. But it took somebody to tell me that I was a sad sack for me to stop being a needy, whiny bitch back in my early 20's. Do somebody a favour and tell them to just suck it up.

Scrape 'Em Off!

But that's just the way I see it.

Another Positive to Getting In Shape

2011-11-06T08:20:00.000-07:00

Sometime about 13 years ago I put on a huge amount of weight in a short period of time. Probably about 35 pounds all told over 2 years or so. The majority of it came in a 6 month span. At the time I was living a fast paced, live-out-of-a-suitcase lifestyle. I maintained 2 residences in 2 Provinces. I ate at wine and cheese receptions (where I developed a very sharp palette, by the way). I jetted across the country every few weeks. Lots of airline, hotel reception and fast food. This was the world of politics in the nation's capital. A world of alcohol, divorce and men and women wearing clothes that used to fit. At the age of 28 my metabolism tanked and I was unprepared for the lifestyle change that it would require of me. In reality, I didn't change for years. I stayed heavy. My wife stayed with me, God knows why. Probably because I'm excellent in every other way.

But one thing I could never shake after gaining weight was the fact that I snored. I did not snore before I gained weight. My wife wears ear plugs to bed. Good thing, because I could raise the roof. I shared a room with a co-worker out on convention a few years ago and he told me how bad the snoring and apnea were. He insisted I see a doctor. Stubbornly I refused. I read later on after landing in the hospital that snoring and apnea can contribute to a shorter lifespan and heart disease. Well, I was determined to never, ever go through that awful heart procedure again, so I began the process of not just losing weight, but getting in shape.

25 pounds later my wife has informed me that I no longer snore very much. I win again. Sometimes it pays to do the right things for the right reasons. 15 pounds to go. No es un problema!

But that's just the way I see it.

That Instant When You Think It's All Over

2011-11-03T09:25:00.002-06:00

It's a good thing that I play lots of video games. I needed to pull a video game move on the freeway this morning to avoid being killed in a grizzly, died-instantly kind of way.

I feel lucky that I managed to get a good night's sleep last night. Lately it's been a struggle for slumber for various reasons. But this morning I was ready to go, so to speak. A fine thing too, since I would need to have my wits about me.

After dropping my wife off at the bus station for her commute downtown, I proceeded to head down the freeway. Bumping along at my usual "10 over the limit" speed of 110 kph, what happened seemed to happen in slow motion, yet was over in less than 2 seconds.

This must be what professional athletes feel when they are "in the zone", where everything slows down for them, but they can react in their normal speed. The semi truck to my left decided that a lane change without a check of his blind spot was a good idea. The car merging into the freeway to my right was blissfully unaware of anything around her as she checked her hair and makeup. The recipe for Jay's demise was ready to cook.

In that instant I knew that I was going to die. The feeling that washed over me is impossible to properly articulate. A mixture of fear, sadness, anger and guilt. But in that state everything slowed down around me. And then the video game skills took over in a rush of raged determination to survive and continue my great life. One foot on the brake, and one on the gas, I slammed, turned, and gassed it ending up behind the semi with millimetres to spare. I avoided contact with the semi, the car on my right, and the SUV that was following behind me. There was just enough space to get it done. But a split second on either side and I'm crushed from both sides and off into the indifferent universe.

I sat in my office for a few minutes when I got to work. Nothing will make you re-assess things like experiencing that feeling that it's the end. This feeling is intense but seems to fade much faster than it should. I thought about the consequences of not being here anymore. The wife I would leave behind having to deal with the mess. The friends I would never see again. The people I care about. It was all about people, not things. I didn't worry that I wasn't going to hold my material possessions anymore. I worried that I would have inflicted all of this pain on all of these people. I have few few real friends in the end, and my thoughts were all about them.

I felt stupid because I've let some things slide and haven't prepared properly if anything were to happen to me. Maybe I should get that will done after all (by the way, Brent gets all of my guitars and equipment, Rob gets my video games, Neil gets my telescope). I feel oddly rejuvenated and energized by the experience. Some things have been brought into very sharp focus for me. I feel proud of my accomplishments, and feel angry and determined about my life's deficiencies. These things will get fixed. The results will benefit me, even if the road there isn't easy. Some other people won't like the consequences, but the mind is made up.

Before today I felt like I had perhaps bitten off more than I could chew this fall. I no longer feel that way. I'm going to jam pack as much fun, learning, good times with my wife, socializing with friends, skiing, guitar playing, video gaming, stargazing and hard work into this fall and winter as I can. Then I'm going to get on that plane in January and head south. Ole!

"One life, I'm gonna live it up. If you think I'll sit around as the world goes by, you're thinking like a fool. It's a case of do or die. Out there is a fortune waiting to be had. You think I'll let it go, you're MAD."

But that's just the way I see it.

Occupy This!

2011-10-28T09:05:00.003-06:00

Nothing beats a good hate-in! Get loads of restless, angry young people together to protest against faceless corruption and it will be a great old time. We don't know what we're talking about, but we know we don't like it! Anarchy would be much better than our wealthy structured society where even poor people have colour TVs. Yeah!

Of course I'm talking about the "Occupy" movement. When surveyed, it's found that these groups of people really have no cohesive message or understanding of why they are there. They just know that big banks and companies screwed up, got bailed out, and somehow Gen Y didn't get a fat payday too.

There is absolutely no doubt that there is something to get upset about. Too bad these people can't define what that is. Like with all anti-corporate movements, it ends up being much more about jealousy and class-warfare than accomplishing real social change. We've seen this nonsense with every G8 and G20 summit. We've seen all of the anti-globalization protesters and the fun they have torching private property. Hell, you'd think they were Vancouver hockey fans.

Instead of a focused campaign to clean up politics in the US through campaign finance reform, or regulatory reform of the financial system, we get the "Occupy" movement. No direction, no intent. Just protest. I don't know what you call that, but I tend to call it "bullshit". Of course the same people who love the "Occupy" movement are the same folks who fought so hard and felt entitled to all of the social spending that's bankrupting Europe these days. No...they have no part to play in the world's financial crisis, do they? People make the mistake of thinking that because the US doesn't have universal public health insurance that they aren't a bloated socialist paradise. They are. The US government is fat, inefficient and corrupt. There are more entitlements in the US than there are in Canada. But hey, killing capitalism will save trees, right? It warms my heart that people who would otherwise have been soviets have found a warm home in today's anarchist and environmental movements.

The United States of America contributes many more positive things to the world than negative. That's a fact. We all take the US for granted because they piss us all off so much with their foolishness. But to make the world a better place, do we rip apart the capitalistic system that has allowed for us to have the lifestyle to which we are accustomed? Do we really think that Wall Street hasn't made a positive contribution to society? Did we expect that any system would be risk-free? How silly.

What the world needs is for the people who are so passionately hateful towards anybody who has a dime more than they do to focus their energy on changing the political system in the US through processes that work. Lobbying, campaigns, funding and fundraising. Back candidates that will do what you want. Fight those who don't. This is what Wall Street does. So beat them at their game if you want to change the game. Get the campaign and regulatory reform that will help the US and the world.

I guess it's easier to sit in a park and get wasted. How intellectual.

Occupy this!

But that's just the way I see it.

What I Want Improved In Grand Theft Auto V

2011-10-26T08:22:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a good day to be an avid video gamer. Along with the release of the latest instalment of the best multiplayer game on the market, Battlefield 3, Rockstar Games ended their silence about the next Grand Theft Auto game. Rockstar has said nothing about the next edition of GTA and it was getting irritating for those of us who are fans of the world's best game franchise. Some of us have been lamenting Rockstar's arrogance regarding its premier game, stating that one game per console generation just wan't enough. If you want to stay on top then you have to give the fans something once in a while. Well, three and a half years after GTA IV we get the announcement that GTA V is coming, with a trailer next week. As I've written before, while the critics loved GTA IV, I think a lot of gamers were disappointed by it. In case you care, here's what I'd like to see improved in the next game over the last one:

1. Better map. The GTA IV map was too dense, too complex and difficult to navigate and memorize. I know that it was meant to replicate New York, but then perhaps New York wasn't a great choice. One of the things I love about GTA is exploring the map, getting to know it, becoming attached to it, piece by piece. But the GTA IV map was boring, IMO. In the end, like everyone else, I just said "screw it" and took cabs everywhere. That took a huge chunk of the GTA experience away. I think that they could have done New York without trying to actually replicate its density. It was a maze, not a map.

2. Better setting. The New York experience was an impressive creation, but I found that it wasn't that fun of a sandbox to play in, and not just because of the map. Everything looked the same, and lacked color. Unless you like the colors brown and yellow, that is. Is it autumn all the time in New York? It was a dreary setting that lacked an enjoyable atmosphere. Let's not forget that a full GTA game usually takes 40 hours minimum to play through. You're investing time in this. You should be someplace fun. Why make the player stop what they are doing so they can ensure to throw change into the bucket at a toll booth?

3. Better soundtrack. I hated the radio in the game. Again, meant to match a setting that I didn't dig. I thought that some of the underground stuff would grow on me, but it didn't. And the in game adverts were a lot less funny this time around. Again, 40 hours....I just turned off the radio.

4. Eliminate the friendship dynamic. It served no purpose but to annoy. Constant phone calls, boring minigames and very little reward. If you shut your phone off you lost any rewards anyway, and eventually it stopped the story from progressing. There was no escape. The dating thing was annoying as well, and I thought so in San Andreas too. These activities just aren't fun.

5. Create better characters. Aside from Brucie, GTA IV had some pretty dull characters. Some people liked Roman, but I found him annoying. Great, funny and memorable characters are a staple in Grand Theft Auto. They are a huge part of the experience. They were absent from GTA IV. Compared to previous games like San Andreas (Mike Toreno, Tenpenny, Woozie, Big Smoke, I could go on and on...) and Vice City (Cortez, Rosenberg, Love Fist, Kent Paul, on and on...) there was very little in the way of enjoyable, amusing characters.

6. Quit trying to win an Oscar. GTA IV, and then Red Dead Redemption. Dear God, enough. I want my triumphant ending back. You know what I loved? I loved the ending to GTA III. Blowing Catolina out of the sky with a rocket launcher was so satisfying. This is a video game, after all, and I am controlling the main character. I can find a sad ending poignant or moving when watching it. I find it a let down when experiencing it after investing 40 hours or more in a character and his story....only to fail or die in the end. I get that "movie" feel, but a movie is 2 hours, not 40. You should be rewarded for your investment with more than just deep thoughts.

7. Improve the car handling. The cars handled like bags of wet cement. Even the sports cars couldn't corner worth a bugger. It was very annoying. Ironically, in an attempt to make GTA more realistic (a mistake, in my view) they actually made cars handle worse than in real life.

8. Tone down the police. It's the cops, not martial law or the gestapo. The cops were way too numerous and far too aggressive.

9. Give me a reward for finding hidden packages/collectables. Finding pigeons was difficult and not worth it. In GTA III and Vice City you got a reward for every 10 hidden packages and they weren't so annoying to find. In SA you had 4 different kinds and they were mostly fun to find (although I found the gang tag spraying grating in the end). In GTA IV I had to shoot all of those stupid birds to get any reward. Grrrr! Give me something for every 10 or 20 I find for crying out loud. Hidden packages add to the fun of exploring the map. I really feel they compounded the problem with this. They messed this up. But at least they didn't bring back the uber-annoying gang turf nonsense from San Andreas.

I don't expect perfection. San Andreas is my favourite game of all time and it had some issues. Some things you can ignore if the issues aren't too numerous or consequential. But this time I felt that enjoyable satire and atmosphere gave way to a realism that didn't fit. That attempt at realism was successful and impressive, but it wasn't what I wanted and it wasn't that fun. I honestly believe (1000%) that only critics and die hard GTA fanboys loved GTA IV. I have a lot of gamer friends and I can't count how many griped about GTA IV. "I just didn't like it that much this time" or some variation was the usual thing. None of them could really put their finger on why they enjoyed this one less.

It's not that I don't think that GTA can't be a deep, emotionally involving game. I'm saying that I felt it already was. Compare the outrageous San Andreas or Vice City to the super-outrageous Saints Row 2. SR2 was a load of fun, but it wasn't a deep game with substance. San Andreas was a deep game with substance that tackled heavy issues like loyalty, friendship, family and corruption. It was an epic journey with a triumphant, satisfying ending. All with great characters, music, atmosphere and mechanics. GTA can keep the fun and still have substance. GTA IV was all steak and no sizzle.

But that's just the way I see it

Prideful Peacocks: Funny Things I See In The Gym

2011-10-25T15:14:00.003-06:00

A few weeks back my elliptical machine at home broke down. While my wife and I have struggled to get this fixed under warranty (we will never buy anything from Fitness Depot again!) I've been slumming it at a local gym. While the facility actually has far more to offer than what I am used to at home, I still prefer my own equipment. Not because it's better but because it's at home....away from the preening posers.

I usually love poser watching. But that's often while I'm at a pub or club enjoying a glass of cheer. When I can relax with an intelligent friend and make fun of those who aren't as good as us...yet who try so damn hard to be cool....well, that's fun. But while I'm focused on trying to stay alive through cardio and strength training, I really don't care for the strutting, fashion and self-aggrandizing that goes on in the gym.

Style over comfort? You bet! Just look at that sporty one piece body suit that ensures that your body is 10 degrees warmer than it should be. But hey, why exercise in comfort when you can wear stylized polyester? For every smart person exercising in a set of clothes that allow for airflow and comfort, I see another who looks like they are there to go scuba diving. More concerned with advertising than exercising.

Are you looking at me? I love this. The girl on the exercise bike or stair climber who cannot resist a look around the room to see who's checking her out. Of course the guy who gets caught checking her out gets the dirty look. You win! Who does she think she's fooling?

Hide your shame! I love the insecure or homophobic guys who have a workout to pump themselves up and then shower in their underpants. I have actually split a gut seeing this. Nobody's looking at your willy, buddy. You're not that special.

You're doing it wrong! Nothing beats the gym snob who has to coach everyone around them. The proper way to do an arm curl, the proper amount of intervals on your treadmill, the proper way to hold your chin such that the pretty girls in the stretch polyester will best see that you are, in fact, one hunk of throbbing man.

That repair guy can't get that elliptical machine fixed fast enough.

But that's just the way I see it.

I Still Hate The Black Album

2011-10-21T11:56:00.004-06:00

I hate it when people disappoint me. This happens to everyone: you love a band, TV series or movie franchise and eagerly await the next release only to have it suck. I can name a few times that this has happened to me, if you care to read on. You probably do or wouldn't be here.

1991 - Metallica's self titled "Black Album"
I don't care what anyone says....this album sucks. I hated it from day one, and I think that Enter Sandman is a cheesy, child-like effort at commercial selloutability. One of the things that so many of us loved about Metallica during the 80s was that they hated bands that sold out. They had integrity. They didn't cave to the MTV crowd. Then they decided that complex music bored them and that they too were entitled to a big payday. I was crushed. I had looked forward to the follow-up to And Justice For All for a long time and was hoping that Metallica would keep taking metal to the next level. But the symphony ended and the classic-rock started. They never got it back until Death Magnetic.

1984 - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Raiders of the Lost Ark is my favourite movie. A great tribute to the Saturday afternoon serials of the old movie houses, Raiders is the best B-movie of all time. Where Raiders was fun, Temple of Doom is just dark and gloomy. The charm wasn't there in the same way. But Spielberg got it back the next time around.

1987 - Def Leppard's "Hysteria"
When I was in junior high school, my favourite thing on the planet was Def Lep's 1983 pop-metal masterpiece "Pyromania". In fact, I still love that album. Hysteria was the follow-up that took forever. So those of us who loved Pyromania were fairly eager to get this in our tape decks (dating myself here). I tried to like it. But it was just a pop album and had no edge to it whatsoever. Looking back, I can appreciate Hysteria as a fun album in its own right, but it wasn't what I wanted at the time.

1999 - Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
What else needs to be said? The original Star Wars movies are wonderful classics. The prequels are terrible. Awful dialogue, sub-par performances from actors who can do better, and cheesy CGI special effects that didn't match the franchise. And how many fan-pleasing references to the old films did they need? Darth Vader made C3P0? Puleez. The Force is in your DNA or some such shit? God I hate those 3 films.

Like I said, this kind of thing happens to everybody. I keep waiting for Mad Men to suck....if they ever bring it back.

But that's just the way I see it.

Take Hold Of The Flame

2011-10-20T11:16:00.000-06:00

I love the combination of technical talent and good songwriting. While I have eclectic tastes, my favourite kind of music is and always will be hard guitar driven rock. This is because it is the kind of music that most easily manipulates my brain into an emotional response. That response is not limited to genre, however. It relies upon more of a creative expression that is sincere and insightful, from a talent that avoids contrivance.

I love music that evokes an emotional response through the combination I just mentioned. This involves more than just the cheesy octave change in a chorus or an easy hook. It works the best when the progression and structure take unpredictable and interesting turns. This alone explains the superiority of The Beatles. For me this occurs in all sorts of music, from classical to gansta rap. But some tracks stand out for me, and are worth mentioning.

I was listening to Queensryche's 1984 album The Warning this morning. I've always been struck by the standout track on that album, Take Hold Of The Flame. It has that great combination of accessibility, incredible technical talent and interesting musical direction. From Tate's soaring vocals (the best of them from that time period) to DeGarmo's willingness to veer away from straight power chords in metal, Take Hold of The Flame is a call to all people, especially young people, to stop feeling sorry for themselves, seize their abilities and make the most of their lives. As progressive metal innovators, Queensryche were one of the standout acts of the 1980's. Willing to veer off into strange directions they were always coming up with something that was worth listening to. Their 1988 album Operation Mindcrime is still my favourite concept album ever.

I set out to scour my collection for other standout tracks that achieve the skin tingling inspiration that Take Hold of The Flame does for me. The more I searched the more I realized that this track was such an outstanding achievement. I found that the tracks that gave me that skin tingling inspiration varied. I listened to tracks like Randy Meisner's excellent Eagles song Take It To The Limit, Pillar of Davidson from Live's Throwing Copper, Jerry Cantrell's excellent Hurt A Long Time from his Boggy Depot album, and the wonderful Born in '58 from Bruce Dickinson's first solo album. I listened and re-listened to these great tracks letting the emotions work me. I found that some elicited anger, others, sadness. Still others gave me that melancholy pause for thought that I've always relished in my adult life. After all, so many things in our lives don't turn out the way we think they will. I admire artists that can fully express this, and I appreciate it when that thoughtfulness inspires me to positive things. For different people there are different expressions of this depending on preference.

Going through my collection in this way gave me a serious understanding of why I truly hate today's top 40 music. Manufactured, insincere and with an appeal that wears out it's welcome quickly, todays' top 40 is like cotton candy. Tastes good at first, but the more you eat the sicker you get.

I love those inspirational, creative musicians that can inspire others by expressing themselves sincerely. They bring more than just music to the table. So take hold of the flame. You've got nothing to lose.

But that's just the way I see it.

Some Stupid Things I See When It Gets Cold

2011-10-18T11:47:00.000-06:00

I've been informed that my blog is much more entertaining when I'm complaining about things than when I'm telling you all how great my life is. Since I aim to please, let's get back to bitching about society, shall we?

When I get up to go to work these days it's below zero celcius. Soon the snow will come and with it will come numerous forms of stupidity worth commenting on and looking down on. You would think that when it turns cold people would take more precautions, not fewer. But people tend to act foolishly, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

One of the things that makes me laugh during the cold season is seeing people who put fashion before not freezing to death. Especially living where I do in a place that has an average low of below -10C for a full quarter of the year, it's mind numbing. People more worried about their hair than the pain of cold really are stupid. Go down to the hospitals when it dips down to below -15C and you'll see packed emergency rooms full of people with frostbite. Some of the sights are awful. But at least they looked good at the start.

It's important to note that the people who drive like morons in the summer drive even worse in the winter. It's like they don't notice that snow and ice make roads slippery. Who knew, right? Idiots who don't signal compounded by people in SUVs and trucks who think that they are invincible. Of course when they crash on the main roads into work every day they cause problems big and small. They make me late for work, make me pay higher insurance premiums and waste public resources. They also too often cause grief for their families when the awful phone calls come.

Of course, the winter wouldn't be complete if I didn't notice some of the laziest among us with ice and snow packed on their sidewalks. How else would everyone from me to the letter carrier slip and fall? But why be a good neighbour when you can be an ignoramus?

I guess I should be thankful. At least in winter I no longer have to deal with the lazy creeps who go out wearing sandals without clipping their toe nails. **shudder**

But that's just the way I see it.

A Plan For Enjoying The Cold Time

2011-10-17T15:48:00.000-06:00

I lead a happy life, for the most part. This isn't by accident. I do a lot of planning, and I like to set things up for myself in the future. One of the best pieces of advice I can give anyone is to always give yourself something to look forward to. In fact, give yourself several things to look forward to.

We're heading into the 6 months of the year when it gets cold, driving becomes a risky adventure, and you don't see the sun much. It's easy to get depressed. One of the ways that I ensure that I get through my winter (fall is a nice week here) is to plan lots of things far in advance. Some of those things are starting to pop up on my calendar, and I'm getting super excited.

Those of you who read the nonsense that I post in this blog know that I'm a big fan of good video games. This week I get to play the sequel to what I think is one of this generation's best games. Batman: Arkham City has been on my calendar for 4 months. Pre-ordered and paid for, all I'll have to do is go pick it up. No need to dip into the bank account, since I budgeted for it ages ago and paid for it. The advance reviews for this game are telling me that I'm not going to be disappointed. I can't wait.

A week later my addiction to the Battlefield series will be rekindled with the release of Battlefield 3. To me, Battlefield is the best and most refined representation of online gaming. That includes the inferior Call of Duty. I will have to manage my time well or I could end up in serious marital trouble due to not seeing my wife for lengthy, unacceptable periods of time. But again, I can't wait. There are so many games that look great this year that I don't think I'll get to some of them until the spring game drought. That's okay, they'll cost less then. But I do have to ensure that I have a play through of Saints Row The Third this November. Juvenile fun at its best. I love being a geek.

By the time I get settled in to my Battlefield addiction it should be snowing. I'll be honest, I hate winter. I hate cold. I like sunshine, warmth, palm trees. I'd live someplace warm if I could, but I can't. That's a subject for a different post. To ensure I get through this winter with a minimal amount of stress and maximum amount of enjoyment, I budgeted for two things: winter tires and ski trips. The winter tires are now taken care of, all I need is the snow.

The truth is that I'm really looking forward to spending a few weekends on a mountain this winter. A few friends, a hotel room with a kitchenette, and the rest you can imagine. I'd actually like to get a whole host of people out for one of them and get 2 or 3 hotel rooms going. Real 1980's style. All we need is the Chernobly. We'll see if there are that many cool reliable people. Some folks talk, others actually do.

Winter is also a great time for astronomy. Longer dark periods, clearer air and skies, and a whole host of great things in the winter sky. I definitely will be taking my telescope out this winter. Sure, it gets cold after a while, but it's just so intellectually satisfying to explore and observe. You have to experience it to understand.

I'm also one of those people that really loves Christmas. Furthermore, I think that people who don't like Christmas have something wrong with them. Offended by Santa Claus and baby Jesus? You're nuts. Some people just find the whole Christmas thing too commercial. But what makes it so commercial? What are people buying? They're buying gifts for others. Charitable donations go through the roof at Christmas. People are nicer. This isn't fake. It's real, my friends, and that's a beautiful thing. I just make sure that I get my Christmas shopping done early so I don't have to spend any time in crowded shopping malls. That is where people get impatient and ugly. So I just don't go there. I'd rather enjoy the holidays and be nice to people.

Finally, once I get past Christmas and New Year and we head into that last half of winter I have the annual tropical holiday set up. Going in mid to late January is perfect because it breaks up this period of time nicely. That last stretch of winter can feel so long and I start to get stir crazy. So I get on a plane and head to Mexico with my wife. Always a good time.

All of this was planned far in advance. All of it is spaced out. All of it is designed to keep giving me something to look forward to. That way I'll have the best chance to enjoy a time of year I typically hate.

But that's just the way I see it.

Jay: The Good Asshole?

2011-10-17T11:11:00.001-06:00

I went out for drinks the other night with some friends. It was a fun time. An old friend of mine joined us during the evening and we had one of those memorable conversations.

At some point my friend and I were talking about other people and I asked what kind of guy I was. She answered, "Oh, you're an asshole".

I was shocked. Stunned, really. I have never really seen myself as an asshole. Oh, but to see ourselves as others see us..... So I proceeded to question my brutally honest and blunt friend. I told her that I didn't see myself as an asshole. She told me not to worry. I was a "good asshole".

You can see how I might get confused at this point. Good asshole? What's that? So I asked for clarification. She said that I wasn't a mean asshole, but that I had the traits of somebody who most people would consider an asshole. For example, apparently I am confident, cocky, self-centred, egotistical and above all, arrogant. So how can I be all of these things and still be a good person?

I responded that I wasn't selfish. At this point we had to agree that there was a serious difference between selfish and self-centred. In fact, as it turns out I'm rather unselfish. I'm just a narcissist. Not sure I agree with all of that.

Now, I am self-confident, I agree. Why shouldn't I be? I'm successful, happy and have a great life. Every day is Christmas when you're me. I have a nice home, no debt except my mortgage, a good job and career, and a beautiful, smart wife who puts up with my whining when I'm sick. I have every reason to be self-confident. But am I really self-centred?

I don't think so. I have this awful habit of always trying to do good. This often finds me putting my neck out where it ought not be just to help somebody else along. I'm comfortable giving praise and positive feedback. I like to encourage people who deserve it. In fact, I probably spend far too much time nosing in on other people's problems than I should. I recently was accused of being too nice. I agreed with that. It's not the first time I've been accused of it. It wasn't meant as a compliment.

Arrogant is an interesting one. I have to admit that sometimes I am. But compare me with the 20 year old me and you'll see that my arrogance has been scaled way back. This wasn't just because I grew up. It's a conscious effort of will. I do think I'm better than most people. I'm probably right. Most people just go through the motions of life. Most don't follow our political process. Most watch reality TV. Those supermarket tabloids are still selling. Anyone hear the crap that's in the top 40 these days? Yes, I consider myself above most of that. And I'm attracted to other people who think like me. If that makes me arrogant, then so be it. I can live with that.

So can somebody be a good asshole? Cocky, arrogant, but still nice and generous? According to my friend, somebody can. That somebody is me. I remain unsure.

But that's just the way I see it.

Judgemental Jay: I Can't Believe That People Still Smoke Cigarettes!

2011-10-13T08:09:00.001-06:00

Allow me to be a judgemental know-it-all just for a moment. I was having a conversation with a very intelligent colleague the other day and the subject of smoking came up. I thought to myself, "It's 2011 and people are STILL smoking cigarettes? How ridiculous!"

A few things came to mind as I was talking to my intelligent, non-smoker colleague about smokers. We were perplexed regarding several facts. First, some of the smartest people we knew were smokers. That was disappointing to us since these smart people really should know better. Considering all that we know about what's in cigarettes and what they do to you, I'm shocked that anybody still does it at all. The most intelligent among us only serve to make us question our high estimation of them when they light up.

Then there's everyone else. How come every poor person I know smokes cigarettes? How the hell do they pay for this $8-10 a day habit? Yet they are always crying poor. They should shut their big yaps. If you can afford to smoke cigarettes you're NOT poor. If you smoke cigarettes you shouldn't be allowed to ever complain about money at all, no matter what your income.

Of course, smokers are the least productive people around. When I see the smokers in workplaces taking their 15 minutes out of every hour to go have a smoke I wonder if I should get to leave work 2 hours early so I get the same benefit. Something tells me that I wouldn't get away with that, yet the smokers get away with essentially the same damned thing. So they're killing themselves, costing the rest of us money and ripping off their workplaces all at the same time. Nobody ever seems to call them out on it either. Well I am.

Here's the facts: anyone can quit smoking. I did, and I smoked for 12 years. Smokers simply need to understand the reality of smoking. It's not a habit, it's an addiction. Nicotine is metabolized by your body rapidly. So rapidly that as soon as you put out that cigarette the annoyance and irritation begins for you. The only time that smokers ever feel normal is when they are smoking. Nicotine is run through your body and out in 48 hours. At that point the physical addiction is beaten, for real. The reason people have such a tough time is because they are brainwashed. They've been told that they can't quit, that it's too hard. They've been told time and again that it's impossible. They've been brainwashed into believing that they like smoking, even though cigarettes taste terrible, make you smell and require you to often stand outside. People think that they enjoy that smoke after a meal, but in reality they only rush their meal and ruin it without realizing it just to get to that smoke. It's all brainwashing.

Anybody can quit, no matter how long they've been a nicotine slave. But the excuses always seem to pile up. So, fine. Stay a smoker if you want. But you should have your pay docked for all of those extra breaks. You ought to know better anyway.

For those who smoke and actually want to quit, I can recommend a great book that WILL help you if you let it. Alan Carr's "Easy way To Quit Smoking" helped me to understand my addiction. When I closed the back page on that book, I was a non-smoker, and I never looked back. Check it out.

But that's just the way I see it.

4 Ways I Can Improve My Life

2011-10-11T19:37:00.003-06:00

It was nice to have an extra long weekend to relax, forget about work, see family and get some exercise to clear my head. While I was burning calories this weekend, I started thinking about some of the ways that I can take action to make my life better. In the rare chance that you care, I'll list them for you.

1. Play More Video Games...and other things
This should be a task you would think would be easy for me to accomplish, but it will require some time management. When you have committed yourself to certain things that are time consuming, then you have to prioritize and allocate. This requires some planning. I'm fairly good at planning my time, but I have noticed an alarming downward trend in the amount of time I spend playing games. Several of my other interests have seen their time curtailed as well. Things like learning Spanish, practising guitar, and gazing at the universe through my telescope have suffered. Some of this has happened because I am a very social being and I like to socialize. I take an interest in the people I work with and for, as well. And some of it has been because I have spent a lot of free time in the classroom attempting to improve my abilities. As I've stated before, I don't like to get drunk, but I do like to take a drink rather frequently. Perhaps the key is to do less of that, and spend more time at home. Might solve more than one problem.

2. Be More Strict With My Money..and other things
I need to allocate my cash better than I have been. I have some things I want to accomplish this fall and winter and I can't do it if I spend money while I make money. Coffee, drinks, and dinner out all cost and add up. A pint of beer in a pub is $6. Three pints plus a tip could get me a case of beer from a liquor store. I can buy a bottle of wine in a store for less than two glasses at a bar. When you're planning for weekends skiing in the mountains and upgrades of things at home, you really can't squander your cash on dinner when you spend perfectly good money on groceries. And I can't wait for those decadent ski trips. That ultra decadent Mexican trip is only 3 months away as well.

3. Drop 15 Pounds...and other things
I posted a little less than a year ago that I love New Year's resolutions. I love them because I like to plan. I am good at goal setting, and have a fairly good record of following through. I have some goals for 2011 that I have yet to complete. One is to lose 30 pounds. I've managed to get halfway there this year. I had a great year of soccer and I've worn out my second elliptical machine in less than 10 months. With less than 3 months to go, and a holiday season in the way, this will be a challenging goal. It tends to tie in with #2 on this list as well. But getting there will not only make my life better, but will ensure I get to keep living it. I've managed to secure the completion of almost all of my other goals for this year, from vacation planning to financial planning. We've made improvements to our home and made some nice purchases, all of them cash, not debt. I just need to get rid of that last, nagging 15 pounds. Oh, uh, and....

4. Be Less Nice..and...nah...just be less nice
I've written about this problem of mine before. Indeed, one of my New Year's resolutions this year was to be less nice, and for good reason. So, while there are still some months left in this year, I plan on fulfilling this resolution. If you recall, I had not resolved to stop being nice altogether, but only to reduce my niceness by 34%. At issue is this: an awful lot of people just don't respond well to you being nice to them. There are those who don't trust you unless you're trying to screw them over and will never believe in your sincerity; and others who think that if you pay attention to them it means you want to sleep with them or some such rubbish. The rarest of people end up actually being your friend. But how do you sort the wheat from the chaff, as it were? Some folks just really aren't entitled to my kindness, yet some of them get it anyway. This must stop. MY happiness should come first. The problem is that I am actually a nice person. But at what point do you draw the line? That 34% gets achieved through better judgement. Who deserves the benefits of what Jay brings to the table? Who brings very little to the table themselves?

I'm always looking to improve my already excellent life. There have been some hiccups this year, but so far it's been pretty good. Time to finish 2011 with a bang!

But that's just the way I see it.

Movie Review: The Ides Of March

2011-10-10T12:52:00.001-06:00

And I thought that I was cynical. In comparison to George Clooney I have a bright rosy outlook on politics.

Clooney stars in, directs and co-writes The Ides of March. It is an intelligent and thoughtful film with a great cast. It only falters in its blatant disgust with the subject it deals with.

Ides revolves around Ryan Gosling, who plays the star press secretary for a presidential candidate, played by Clooney. At first the film plays it coy regarding the shadowy side of the American political process. You get the two opposing campaign managers, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti, who are experienced in the game and are okay with its darker side. To them, it is the way it is. Gosling's character thinks that he no longer has to play too rough since he truly believes in his candidate. Marissa Tomei plays a jaded journalist who tries in vain to warn Gosling about believing too much in the purity of his candidate. You can perhaps already see where this setup is going. But there are some surprises along the way.

Things begin to unravel when Gosling gets involved with a young intern, played by Evan Rachel Wood, who simply doesn't give a performance that matches her co-stars. Without giving anything away, complications arise between Gosling and Wood, while at the same time Gosling learns some tough lessons at the hands of the unforgiving Hoffman and devious Giamatti. This leaves Gosling with the short end of the stick, and he has to figure his way out of the mess that was created for him by others. The film cleans up its third act with an ending that is massively cynical and pessimistic. The odd part is that while not all of the film worked for me, the ending did. It made sense, and it roughly engages the audience with the message that in politics sometimes you have to do bad to do good.

After seeing the film I found myself thinking about other political dramas, and comparing it to the best of them. Films and television shows like Primary Colors and The West Wing came to mind. It was then that I understood why some of the film didn't work for me. This was a story almost begging for Aaron Sorkin (West Wing, Social Network) to write the dialogue. This film just doesn't treat the material as well as a film like Primary Colors does. That film also has a cynical and realistic view of politics, but its characters justify it. In The Ides of March the characters don't justify it. They seem broken by it, but persist nonetheless.

I really liked this film, and while it has its faults, it is still one of the best films I've seen this year.

8.5/10

But that's just the way I see it.

5 Things I'm Thankful For

2011-10-09T08:50:00.003-06:00

This weekend represents Thanksgiving in this part of the world. To ensure that it is more than just an extra day off, I have a fun partial list of things that I'm thankful for.

1. The Numbers 128, 78, 58, and 192.
No, this isn't the end of an episode of Sesame Street. It's been 2 years since I had that fun heart procedure that opened up a coronary artery that was 90% blocked. At that time I was 215 pounds and my blood pressure was 148/105. Now my blood pressure is 128/78, with a resting heart rate of 58 and I weigh 192 pounds, down 23. This is a battle that I am clearly winning. I quit smoking almost 9 years ago. Good thing or I'd have been a goner. For this I am thankful.

2. The NFL.
I love the National Football League. It makes my Sundays so wonderful. I just love sitting on that couch with a guitar in my lap, watching football all day. No thoughts of work, problems or other issues. Just pure enjoyment. For this I am thankful.

3. My Job.
There's a blurry line between work and play at my place of employment. Sure, it has its share of frustrations, but I get paid the medium bucks, and receive some sweet perks. Plus I work with a lot of cool people every day doing something I really believe in. And then I drink alcohol with them. For this I am thankful.

4. My Family.
I have a support network of people that will be there for me if things go sideways. Not everyone can say that. My mom and dad are always willing to help me, and my mother and father-in-law always seem thankful that I married their hot, temperamental redhead daughter. And I think that they actually like me. Either that or they keep feeding me drinks to shut me up. My wife and I fight sometimes, but we don't fight about money or children, which means that we have a better chance than most. For this I am thankful. Did I mention that I don't have kids? For this I am extremely thankful.

5. My Mind And My Money.
I may not make the big bucks, but I make those bucks go far! I'm not a cheapskate, I tip well. But I'm allergic to debt, so I just don't get into it. I believe that good debt includes houses, affordable cars and education loans. Bad debt is everything else. I have no non-mortgage debt, go on a tropical holiday every year, and watch football on a big screen in HD. But I also drive a Toyota and not a BMW. I know budgeting, self-restraint and planning. I understand that saving for retirement matters. And while I pay close attention to the stuffy details, I have never lost my sense of humor. I like to laugh and have a good time, and my brain can outwit the best of them. I have self-respect and don't define myself on how others see me or if somebody wants to sleep with me. I already know I'm awesome, and I know why. For this I am thankful.

We all have something to be thankful for. A good friend, a talent we have, a pet we love, a job we value. Depending on our outlook, we can forget about the things that are good and positive in our lives and focus on the negative. I sometimes fall into this negative dynamic too. It's a hateful place, and I most often choose not to be there. What better time to re-affirm that than at Thanksgiving! So think about the good things in your life, quit whining and bitching and go be nice to somebody and enjoy your life.

But that's just the way I see it.

Thank You Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T10:04:00.001-06:00

I remember grade 7 for many reasons. The first of the worst three years of my primary schooling.... the bullying, the social awkwardness, the Dungeons & Dragons, the computer gaming....the Apple//e.

The Apple//e changed my life. It was the start of a lifelong love of being a computer geek. Even years later when I switched to PC I still loved computers. Not enough to program software, but I have always been good at tweaking operating systems and troubleshooting problems. That all started that year, back in 1983.

I remember having cases full of old-style floppy disks crammed full of games, utilities, productivity software, and more games. My friends were all Apple computer owners. We all shared games. We all hung out. This product tied us together and helped us grow. We advanced by leaps and bounds in the early 80's, and while I was being picked on in school, I was laying the foundations for being more successful than most of those assholes who were picking on me anyway.

For that, and for so many of those memories, I have to thank Steve Jobs, who sadly passed away yesterday at 56. While not a fan of Apple these days, I definitely have a lot to be thankful for. The early 1980's were defining years in my life, and one of the most important things in my life for that entire decade was my Apple//e computer.

Thanks, Steve Jobs. RIP.

But that's just the way I see it.

Time To Accept Facts: Oswald Did It!

2011-10-03T13:42:00.001-06:00

Everybody loves a good conspiracy theory. Things like the Moon landings, Area 51, 9/11, and JFK all serve to fuel our imaginations about shady government agencies and coverups. Too bad they're all garbage.

There was a time in my life when I was 100% convinced that there was a conspiracy to kill President Kennedy. I believed that the fatal shot came from the grassy knoll, that the government was behind it, and that Oswald was a patsy. I read countless books on the subject and watched documentaries over and over again. The evidence was there, and it was obvious to me. The fact that the government and members of the Warren Commission that investigated the assassination (including a future President, Gerald Ford) stuck to the same lone assassin story just proved the point further. But I was wrong, and I admit it.

The biggest item in the conspiracy theory arsenal is the "magic bullet" theory. This, I believed, was the proof of a conspiracy. In my mind, there was no way that one bullet could do what the Warren Commission said it did. But in fact, there is no other way that it could have happened. The conspiracy theory about the single bullet is based on false assumptions that once corrected serve to prove the opposite.

The official version of events is this: Lee Harvey Oswald shot President Kennedy and Governor Connelly from the 6th floor window of the Texas Schoolbook Depository at 12:30pm on November 22, 1963. He fired 3 shots, missing with the first, hitting both men with the second (the "magic" bullet), and fatally wounding Kennedy with the third. The evidence, when stripped of false assumptions and myths, proves that this is exactly what happened.

The conspiracy versions of events vary. The most common version involves a shooter in the Schoolbook Depository and a shooter on the grassy knoll to Kennedy's front right. This theory is based on two false assumptions. The first is that the second shot could not have caused all of the wounds that are attributed to it. The second is that the Zapruder film (the 8mm film made by Abraham Zapruder showing the assassination) shows Kennedy getting shot in the head from the front right (the Oliver Stone JFK line "back, and to the left").

The first assumption doesn't take into account the facts regarding Kennedy and Connelly's positions in the open limousine. Indeed, if Connelly had been sitting directly in front of Kennedy, and at the same height, the single bullet could not have caused those wounds. But Connelly was lower than Kennedy, in a jumpseat, and to Kennedy's relative left, and he was turned to his right. The bullet hit Kennedy in the back and exited his throat. It then continued on into Connelly's back, entering just below his right armpit. The bullet exited Connelly's chest, just below his right nipple. When you draw a line from the entrance wound in Connelly's back, back through Kennedy's wounds, you see that the line is perfectly straight. When you continue that line back from Kennedy you end up in the sniper's nest in the Texas Schoolbook Depository. That's the reality based on facts, not conjecture or myths.

The second assumption is that the fatal head shot that killed Kennedy came from the front. It did not. One can not assume that the direction in which Kennedy slumps is the determining factor of where the shot came from. While Kennedy does slump back and to the left, the Zapruder film clearly shows that the back of Kennedy's head is not what blows out. The autopsy on Kennedy showed an entry wound at the back of Kennedy's head. The angle at which Kennedy was hit would be most likely to blow out his right side. Watching the Zapruder film you can see that this is exactly what happened. A shot from the front right would have caused a large exit wound at the rear left of Kennedy's head. This is not what the Zapruder film shows. Furthermore, when looked at frame by frame, it can be determined that at the instant of the head shot Kennedy's head goes forward, not backward.

So many myths and outright lies have been stated as fact that most people actually believe that the assassination of Kennedy was a conspiracy. Lies like that Oswald was a bad shot. But Oswald had reached the rank of sharpshooter in the marines. In his scorebook it shows that he hit the mark 49 times out of 50 from 200 yards on a similar target. Kennedy was only 88 yards from the sniper's nest. It has also ben told that there was no way that Oswald could fire 3 shots in 6 seconds. But it was 8.3 seconds, not 6, and this so-called feat has been repeated by others.

Lee Harvey Oswald as a lone nut assassin is not a difficult story to believe when one looks at his past. In April of 1963 Oswald has attempted to assassinate a retired general who was a staunch anti-communist and segregationist. He had left the USA and spent time un the USSR. He ran a one man chapter of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee in New Orleans. This was a man who was obsessed with communist politics. A lonely man desperate to be somebody who mattered. And the only person missing when the employees at the Texas Schoolbook depository were accounted for after the assassination was Oswald. His murder of Dallas policemen J.D. Tippett was witnessed by more than one person.

When all the evidence is put together it becomes overwhelming. Oswald did it. He did it alone. He killed the President. Yet very few believe that he did it alone. The evidence has been shown in documentaries and books. ABC News and Peter Jennings aired an outstanding documentary that puts the entire crime to bed in 2003 called "The Kennedy Assassination: Beyond Conspiracy". It's available to be viewed in full on YouTube. I would recommend it to anyone who wants, and is not afraid of, the truth.

Why do conspiracy theories persist? Perhaps it is to assign a greater meaning to tragic events like the Kennedy assassination. Perhaps people can't fathom that man has actually travelled to the moon and back. Perhaps they cannot understand how fanatical religious hatred can cause people to fly planes into buildings. But where you see a conspiracy theory you almost never find facts or truth.

But that's just the way I see it.

Movie Review: Contagion

2011-10-02T11:32:00.000-06:00

There have been a lot of weak movies this year and a lot of disappointments. For me, Contagion officially begins the fall movie season, and does so in great form.

The cast in Contagion is a massive score of a-list actors, some of whom leave their egos at home to appear for only short periods of time. The performances are universally excellent, and when you add in the well-done story, you have one of the best films of the year.

Contagion is basically a story of a virus, a-la SARS or H1N1, that starts quickly, spreads rapidly and kills many. The story's main focus is the attempt to find a vaccine and track the source. It plays out a lot like a detective tale, with Laurence Fishburne and the excellent Jennifer Ehle taking the lead. Supporting is Kate Winslet, Elliot Gould and Marion Cotillard. This part of the story takes some interesting turns and doesn't take an easy, contrived way through to the end. There are several intersecting secondary stories as well. One involves Matt Damon, the husband of the virus' first victim, played by Gwyneth Paltrow. As Damon and what's left of his family attempt to survive we witness society at its lowest. Jude Law adds an interesting wrinkle to the story as an internet blogger who specializes in conspiracies. Law's character attempts to expose coverups and corruption with respect to the authorities, but never seems to be fully forthright himself.

What I really liked about Contagion was the fact that while there is some grim content, it never goes for the cheap gross-out. It focuses on the story and its characters. It doesn't manipulate the audience or get bogged down in cheesy love stories or teenage angst. This is a serious film with serious content. It remains interesting from start to finish and leaves you thinking about it after the credits roll.

8/10

But that's just the way I see it.

Losing Weight Is Expensive!

2011-09-30T14:51:00.001-06:00

I finally found the keys to my diet. Losing weight only required that I make a few small substitutions that have made all the difference in the world. Those substitutions have destroyed my bank balance while slimming my waist.

First of all, healthy food costs way more than crap food does. Adding vegetables and healthy meals is a bank-killer. Buying jam with no sugar added costs 25% more. Buying frozen vegetables costs moolah! Everything from high fibre cereals to multigrain bread costs more than its crap counterpart.

So how have I lost weight? I cut out several things that I was simply consuming too much of. Things like, say, beer. And cutting my bread consumption in half. There's also the elimination of oatmeal from my breakfast. Not that oatmeal is bad, but it's heavy, and when you're also eating cereal, toast and coffee with creamer, something has to give.

Then there's the sandwiches I was eating for lunch. One of my all-time favorite things to eat is a peanut butter and banana sandwich. But those two slices of bread added a couple of hundred calories daily, and the peanut butter, while high in protein, is super-high in fat. So out they went in favor of lean microwavable lunches. I'm sure I'll get used to it. It's been 2 months, but I'm sure I will. I'll keep telling myself that.

The biggest temptation is that 2pm snack craving that everybody on the planet gets. I've had to simply show restraint. Is there some magical secret to getting past that time of day? Well, if there is I don't know, so don't look to me for the secret. But if you want to lose weight you have to. So I just do. Most days.

I subbed out (most days) beer for red wine. To be honest, I really prefer beer. But beer is just so damned full of calories. It's just so unfair, since beer is one of life's greatest pleasures. I don't know if this is proof of God or not, but it lend some serious credence to the existence of some great evil that likes to torture us.

15 pounds in 8 weeks isn't bad. But one thing I didn't really comprehend was that I would have to buy new clothes. Now THAT is expensive. New jeans, casual pants, t-shirts, business wear. I'll have to get around to buying a new suit or two. I just don't know how I'll do all of this without selling one of my kidneys. Any buyers?

At least I get to stay alive.

But that's just the way I see it.

Please God, End The Zombie/Vampire Fad!

2011-09-28T13:01:00.003-06:00

I don't understand our society's obsession with zombies and vampires. You know what? Zombies are stupid. Vampires are lame. Get over it. This is the lamest fad since Pokemon. Or at least the awful torture movie fad.

Zombie flicks have been around for years, and vampire stories even longer. But the constant bombardment in recent times makes me want to comb my hair with a barbecue scraper. Zombie movies, video games and now TV shows are all the rage. What the hell makes zombies so damned popular? They are the least scary monsters ever. They're slow and walk around groaning. How boring and lame is that? I mean really! The dead come back to life? Rotting flesh and bones? Like you couldn't kick a zombie's ass with ease. Your grandmother could.

And vampires are all the rage as well. Boring! Zzzzzz!!!! Now we don't just get vampires, we get depressed teenaged vampires in love. The blood sucking isn't what makes me want to throw up. Of course, there's always the people who love the vampire culture so much that they dress like it all the time. That's even lamer than ear plugs (which are just disgusting....seriously people...why???). There's an entire industry around vampires. TV shows, movies, book series. On and on it goes.

Why do I hate these things so much? First, it's overkill. There's only so much of something you can take before you want it to just go away. Second, zombies and vampires (zombies in particular) are ridiculous. What a thing for society to become enamoured with. I weep for the future.

I think I could easily get away from a zombie, but in real life, there seems like there's no escape. That's the scary part.

But that's just the way I see it.

Is The Music Industry Trying To Kill Music?

2011-09-26T10:49:00.000-06:00

I have a list in my head of the things that I think are destroying popular music. But really, there has always been bad, cotton candy music out there. I have reasons, however, for believing that creative, substantive music is becoming a small, niche market.

Now, I know that art involves subjectivity and personal taste. But I've always seen art as a creative medium. A means of expression, not just entertainment (although denying the latter is foolish). So what happens when you take the creativity out of the medium? You get today's popular music. And I'm about to bash the hell out of it.

What good is a painting that's just randomly done by a machine? It might look cool, but it contains no human context and won't inspire anyone. The same can be said for music that has its human expression stripped away. When pop songs do very little more than establish a simple set of random notes over a beat set out by a machine while a sample plays over top, you've got music that's devoid of human expression. And if music can't inspire an emotion, to me it's worthless. The same can be said of vocalists that can run up and down scales effortlessly, but don't actually evoke any feeling.

And in today's pop music talent isn't even necessary. Autotune has seen to that. When used to the max all you get is a human/machine hybrid that sounds more like an 80s video game than a listenable tune. When used subtly, you get outright dishonesty and a total absence of integrity.

So what's caused this? I think it's the focus on the hit single. The music industry has reverted to 1950's mode. The album as a form of creative medium is now very limited. It still exists in areas of the industry such as metal, folk and other more underground scenes. But in terms of popular mainstream music, it's gone. And that's sad. To make things worse, rock n' roll has been completely pushed out of top 40 music.

I like to blame the world's problems on Apple. In this case, I may actually be justified. In order to avoid viruses and low quality downloads, consumers have flocked to the legitimate 99 cent song. Digital distribution has moved the focus away from albums and towards singles. When rock n' roll began in the mid 50's singles were the focus and albums the filler. And the more sanitized it got the more boring it became (Veeeenus....oh Veeeenus...). And in time, it was overturned by a powerful creative force.

The similarities are striking. Prior to The Beatles, singles were the focus. The bass drum was always in lock-step with the bass guitar (sound similar?). The songs all followed a similar pattern and formula. When The Beatles revolutionized popular music, they made the album a cool creative medium. I can only hope that another John, Paul, George and Ringo hit the scene. The Beatles created unabashed (and sometimes contrived) pop music, but it was creative, human and full of expression. They changed music with different uses of chord patterns and structure that were shocking to what ears were used to in 1963. They used different vocal harmonies.. Todays pop music only goes for the toe-tap.

How long can it last before it blows up at the hands of a revolutionary creative force again? The sooner the better. Until then, it just seems like the music industry is trying to kill music with beats by machines made for automatons.

But that's just the way I see it.

What's Your Guilty Pleasure?

2011-09-25T17:22:00.002-06:00

So? What is it? That thing that you bash to your friends and colleagues but secretly really like?

We all do it. Don't even TRY to deny it, you lousy hypocrite! I do it, you do it, that snooty know it all that you are friends with does it. All of us.

It's funny how we like certain things but are unwilling to admit it. Sometimes we want to look or feel elitist. If it's popular then we can't be allowed to like it. Are you that person who claims to hate Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night" but turns it up in the car when you hear it? I thought so.

The same thing applies to movies, TV and every other kind of entertainment medium. People ask me if I've seen the latest episode of some TV show and I respond that I haven't. That isn't because I think TV is beneath me (well, most reality TV is), but because I just don't have much time to watch it. I follow one or two series and often get caught up on DVD or on demand. When my TV is on it's usually got a video game on it or a movie. I don't even know what the popular TV shows are.

But I can easily admit that when I was a kid, I LOVED Magnum PI. When I was 10 years old I watched The Dukes of Hazzard. I watched the first 3 seasons of Survivor before I got bored of it.

Music seems to be the biggest guilty pleasure zone. I can't count how many people I've known who have told me that they don't like the "Grease" soundtrack. Personally, I hate it (though I loved it in 1978). But what always gets people up on the floor at at wedding? Grease and YMCA! If everybody hates it, then why do so many love it?

So what's the moral of the story? Only that most people are a bunch of bloody hypocrites.

So what's your guilty pleasure?

But that's just the way I see it.

Learn To Take A Compliment!

2011-09-23T08:12:00.001-06:00

"You look very nice today."

"Oh cut it out!"

"Fine, you look like shit and should flush yourself down a toilet in a public bus station"

That last line is what I always want to tack on whenever I am faced with some variation of the second line in that conversation after giving a compliment. Why is it that so many people have no idea how to take a compliment?

I'm a fairly friendly guy. I give out a lot of compliments, but never give one I don't mean. I just believe in positive reinforcement. If somebody takes the time to make themselves look good, then it's worthwhile acknowledge that. The same goes for things like doing a good job and doing good deeds. Acknowledgement goes a long way....with some people. Others just don't seem to have a clue.

I've tried for some time to figure out why some folks just don't know how to take a compliment. It has to be one of the following reasons:

1. Maybe they're stuck up. You know that type. The person who thinks that everyone who pays attention to them wants to screw them or screw them over. Get over yourself!

2. Maybe they have no self-esteem. Simple. They don't believe what you're saying, so they don't know how to take it. Always awkward.

3. Maybe they're high on themselves. How dare you compliment me! I know I'm great, I don't need an insignificant worm like you to tell me. These people are the worst.

So what's the solution? For me, I'm thinking of implementing a 2-strikes-and-you're-out policy. Screw it up once and you get a second chance, but the second time you get told that you suck and something about a toilet in a public bus station.

They deserve it.

But that's just the way I see it.

You Know What I Love About Myself?

2011-09-20T09:57:00.001-06:00

What's that old cliche? If you can't love yourself you can't love someone else? If thats true (it is) then I must have an enormous capacity to love, because I'm a pretty fantastic guy. That may sound arrogant to you, but truly it is not. People should have a healthy positive view of themselves. If they don't then they will invariably be annoying sad sacks. I think everybody knows that person that always answers the question "how are you?" with some sob story. These people are toxic and tend to have a violin follow them around everywhere. They also have no idea that their attitude is a factor in the outcome of their day to day lives.

"But why do you love yourself, Jay?"

Well, I'll give you 5 things that I love about Jay.

1) I'm a snob.
I know you were asking yourself, "Does Jay know how smart he is?" I do. As Mr. Covey said, I like to sharpen the saw. I like documentaries. I think that people who don't read have no advantage over those who can't. I don't dull my brain with reality TV or the cult of celebrity. I follow politics and prefer Oscar nominated movies over summer blockbusters. I believe in continuing adult education. I could only have married a smart, educated, serious and attractive woman. Yes, I am a snob. But at least I'm not a snot.

2) I'm clean.
I keep my fingernails and toenails clipped. I brush my teeth several times a day. I wash my hair and use deodorant. I wash my hands after using a lavatory. I like a clean house. I put my dishes away. In this, I am superior.

3) I tip well.

If you sit in a restaurant and treat servers like crap or don't give them a good tip, then you suck. But I guess I tip well because I know that these hard working people put up with so many rotten people.

4) I don't care if you think I'm strange.
I AM strange. I have a vulgar sense of humour. I may actually be friendly to you without wanting anything in return. I'm eclectic and eccentric. I like Mozart and Iron Maiden. I feel great wearing a Hawaiian shirt. I think you suck if you don't like The Beatles. I'm actually happy to be 40 and not 20, and I work hard to keep myself healthy and happy rather than whining about it and being jealous of the young. My home exercise equipment gets used and doesn't act as a clothes hanger. I understand that I am different. I like being a misfit.

5) I'm a geek.
I prefer the term "geek" to the term "nerd". I enjoy sitting in a dark basement playing video games. I get excited about hardware upgrades to my computer. I really enjoy Star Trek. I distinguish between the great original Star Wars movies and the awful prequels. I loved D&D when I was a kid. Chic to be geek, baby!

Every day is Christmas when you're me. It makes Christmas rather anti-climactic, but I always act surprised.

But that's just the way I see it.

Who Will Keep Harper's Tories In Check?

2011-09-18T20:11:00.000-06:00

Can the NDP hold the Harper government to account? I'll give you the quick answer: No. Hell no! And that's not good. You have a strong, experienced government against a group of leaderless rookies and ragtags. The Conservatives really do control their own destiny, now. Will they keep Canadians on their side or will they lurch hard to the right without the accountability of a strong opposition? And if the NDP fails, what happens to the political landscape in Quebec?

Parliament resumes this week and some of the things on the government's agenda should worry all of us. The key to moderating a government that may not be interested in being moderate anymore is to be good at communicating. The late Jack Layton was pretty good at it. But the NDP caucus without Layton looks green and raw, to put it mildly. How long until there are more embarrassments? Most felt that Layton himself would have had a tough go at it with this bunch. Without Layton the government may well get a free ride. We should all worry about that.

With a minority Parliament you could count on compromise and moderation. With a strong opposition that could communicate, you could hope for the government to err on the side of the centre. But with a group of rookies led by a former separatist who has already lost the confidence of most of the country, the moderating influence is gone. So that leaves the question: just how much does Stephen Harper like being Prime Minister? The more conservative he gets, the less likely he will be to remain PM in 4 years.

Much of the government's agenda will revolve around balancing the budget and satisfying their crime and justice demands. The former doesn't really cause me a lot of concern, as I think that maintaining a good fiscal position is essential to Canada's advantage. It's the latter that concerns me.

The Conservatives previous attempts at justice reform were a mixed bag. Very few people I know opposed putting violent criminals in jail for longer, even if violent crime is on the decline. But what about the revolving door of petty crime? What about car thieves walking the next day?

What about the government's ability to snoop on you electronically? If we give up our privacy on an every day basis in order to stop terrorism, then the terrorists win without doing anything. How does that make sense? Haven't we paid enough to justify our freedom? What the hell are we fighting for, anyway, if not that?

And hasn't the time come to look at different solutions to the so-called "war on drugs"? Let's face it, we lost that war a long time ago. And the United States' insatiable appetite for drugs is ironically tied to their demands for compliance from everyone else. Canada shares criminal record info with the USA, but neither recognizes each other's pardons, even though Canada is about to make getting a criminal record suspension, as they will call it, more difficult. How does that make sense? Yet the crime bill to be introduced in this session of Parliament will crack down on drug offenses. What's the definition of insanity, again? But at least we feel national pride at the quality of our beer, a drug.

I'll just say this in defense of the government, their plan to build more prisons even though violent crime is declining still makes sense. Kingston Penitentiary was built more than 150 years ago. Maybe it's time to replace it, huh? The need to for newer facilities does not fly in the face of lower crime rates. A rate measures crimes per sample size. But if the sample size is larger every year, then the nominal number will continue to rise, even if the rate goes down. Prisons deal in nominal numbers, not rates. We need more prisons, and if you think that prisoners should be treated humanely and rehabilitated, then you should agree with the government.

On the fiscal side there will no doubt be large scale cuts in government spending. The government was hoping to balance the budget by 2014-15, but that is now unlikely because of the US and Europe-led double dip recession that is now a sure thing. This is why I am fine with getting our financial house in order as soon as possible. The US and Europe are in massive trouble. Canada is not. We should keep it that way. We have a serious opportunity to be an economic leader and we shouldn't squander it. While much of the western world will see a decline in standard of living in the next 15 years while they sort our their mess, Canada can continue to grow. That is, if we don't mess it up.

Honestly, what I think our country needs in it's politics is a strong opposition. We don't have that right now. I really wish that the Liberals would get their act together and find a good leader. Until then, the Conservatives will do as they like. We, on the other hand, won't like some of it.

But that's just the way I see it.

The NFL Makes My Life Even Better!

2011-09-08T09:25:00.000-06:00

I was worried, I'm not going to lie. Perhaps I should have known better than to think that the players and owners would ever let it come to a work stoppage, but the possibility existed and I was, therefore, freaking out. You see, I love the NFL. Those of you who read the dribble that I write in this blog already know that, I guess. But to me NFL season is more than just about football. It's much, much more. It's a lifestyle. A 6 month lifestyle that helps me get through the winter.

I am a creature of habit. I like regimentation and structure because it keeps me in line. I watch my money like a hawk not because I'm cheap, but because I'm a spender. I plan my schedule months in advance because I am naturally lazy. I have to stay vigilant. So I like to build my relaxing times into my schedule. I might be easy to assassinate if anyone ever gave enough of a shit about me to want me dead.

In addition to my morning workouts, my weekend wine, movie and dinner with my wife, and my scheduled video game times, I like to schedule my "sit on my ass with a guitar in my lap and watch football" time. The NFL was virtually made for that.

Sundays are my favourite days during NFL season. I tend to schedule nothing on those days. I sleep in. Then it's up for breakfast, shower and football. And I have a wife that understands my need for this cathartic downtime. I find that my guitar playing ability spikes during NFL season. I sit, I watch, I play.

It wouldn't work if the NFL wasn't built for television. But, as I've pointed out before, it is in so many ways. The game itself is so much fun to watch to me, as well. My countrymen often like to slag yankeeball, but the truth is that it is a wonderful sport to watch, full of strategy, skill and excitement.

And it all starts tonight. Yay.

But that's just the way I see it.

Steam Hits 4 Million Users Online At Once

2011-09-07T15:38:00.001-06:00

A couple of years ago Microsoft was crowing about having more than 2 million users online at once when Modern Warfare 2 launched. This week Steam doubled that.

At the time I sit writing this there are over 3.6 million users online on Steam. This is proof that PC gaming is far from dead. In fact, over the next couple of years PC may just be the best gaming platform out there.

Now, don't get me wrong. I am a console gamer too. But the current consoles are getting old and really can't compete visually or in terms of feature sets in the way that PC games can.

Let's take one of my favourite series, Battlefield, for example. In Battlefield Bad Company 2, the multiplayer experience gives you much more choice. You can access the list of servers, filter them out, and view their latencies. On consoles, you can only choose what kind of game and a server is picked for you. You can't view how many people are on the server, what its ping is or much else.

Keeping to the same game, the visuals are strikingly different. Resolution, textures, details and effects are all better in the PC version, even on medium settings. The consoles just can't compete. The same can be said of other games as well, such as Crysis 2, which looks vastly better on the PC.

Today's PC games also often come mapped to controllers such as the Xbox 360 controller for Windows. This gives the player the option of using a mouse and keyboard or a controller. You can often customize the controls to your liking as well.

So while retail stores have swept PC games under the rug, Valve has resurrected PC gaming with digital distribution and built on a solid platform. Now there are as many, if not more, users on a dedicated PC service as on Xbox Live. That's impressive.

But that's just the way I see it.

Proof That People Are Lazy Slobs

2011-08-31T16:03:00.001-06:00

Former Prime Minister Jean Chretien once said that, "a proof is a proof! Once you have a good prove, you know that it's proven."

Profound words from our country's most under-rated Prime Minister.

Here are some "proves" that prove that people are lazy slobs.

1) Not signalling when driving.

Seriously, how many accidents have been caused by people too lazy to flick a simple switch that's right where their left hand is. Ot maybe their left hand is doing something else. I don't want to know....

2) Not wearing deodorant.

You take the lid off, you wipe it under your arms, you put the lid back. Total time taken: 4.3 seconds.

3) Littering.

Purposely contributing to your community/school/workplace looking like a dump because you can't walk the short distance to a trash bin. Congratulations. Please don't reproduce.

4) Not flushing.

You grab your junk and hold it while liquid streams out of it or wipe your ass, but think it's too gross to pull that lever that flushes the toilet? Really? The only thing more gross is....

5) Not washing your hands.

This is why I don't like shaking hands with people. That includes women.

Have a great September!

But that's just the way I see it.

EA's Origin Crosses The Line

2011-08-25T20:17:00.001-06:00

Care about your personal information? Seems that Electronic Arts does too. They want you to buy their games, sure. But they also want to see your personal information. I don't just mean your name and address. I mean your online and computing habits. Welcome to EA's Origin.

Steam is an online digital distribution and gaming hub from Valve that has pretty much saved PC gaming by providing connectivity, synergies, convenience and value. It is like iTunes for games. In Steam you have the ability to opt-out of collection of data for sale to third parties. EA has launched their own service called "Origin" and have consequently pulled their games from Steam. Origin will give you no such opt-out. Origin will install spyware on your PC and will collect the data with the intention of selling it to whomever they please.

Here is what the End User License Agreement states:

"You agree that EA may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer (including the Internet Protocol Address), operating system, Application usage (including but not limited to successful installation and/or removal), software, software usage and peripheral hardware, that may be gathered periodically to facilitate the provision of software updates, dynamically served content, product support and other services to you, including online services,....EA may also use this information combined with personal information for marketing purposes and to improve our products and services." It then tells you that if you don't agree that you should not install Origin. But if you don't install Origin you won't be playing EA exclusive games like Battlefield 3 or Mass Effect 3 on your PC.
Honestly, EA has shown time and again that they are no longer a game company. Everything is about the bottom line for them. This seals the deal. When it did stop being about games for them? EA's leadership team ought to be ashamed of themselves. The giveaway is that they aren't in the least.

The fact that they bash Activision publicly for releasing Call of Duty games every year is funny. Call of Duty will outsell Battlefield by several times and without the spyware. Activision may milk the cow to death, but at least they make their money off of the games. EA believes that the gamer is the cow, not the game. Buy an EA game used? You'll have to pay extra to play online. Play any game online? Welcome to advertising overload! Hell, start up an EA Sports game and you get advertised to before you ever get to play.

As this kind of unethical nonsense permeates the realm of PC gaming, many more will switch back to consoles, and switch away from companies like EA. I've recently completed a PC rebuild for a number of reasons. My nearly 5 year old PC was getting old, and as a consequence was falling behind in all sorts of ways, including gaming. But as a person who has played most of his games in the last 10 years on consoles, I can see that my switch back to PC gaming may be in peril.

But at least my other applications are lightning fast.

But that's just the way I see it.

Update: EA has reworded Origin's EULA to state the following:

2. Consent to Collection and Use of Data.

EA knows that you care how information about you is collected, used and shared, and we appreciate your trust that we will do so carefully and sensibly. Information about our customers is an important part of our business, and EA would never sell your personally identifiable information to anyone, nor would it ever use spyware or install spyware on users’ machines. We and agents acting

37683v1on our behalf do not share information that personally identifies you without your consent, except in rare instances where disclosure is required by law or to enforce EA’s legal rights.

In addition to information that you give EA directly, EA collects non- personally identifiable (or anonymous) information for purposes of improving our products and services, providing services to you, facilitating the provision of software updates, dynamically served content and product support as well as communicating with you. The non-personally identifiable information that EA collects includes technical and related information that identifies your computer (including the Internet Protocol Address) and operating system, as well as information about your Application usage (including but not limited to successful installation and/or removal), software, software usage and peripheral hardware. As noted above, this information is gathered periodically for purposes such as improving our products and services, troubleshooting bugs, and otherwise enhancing your user experience.

This and all other data provided to EA and/or collected by EA in connection with your installation and use of this Application is collected, used, stored and transmitted in accordance with EA’s Privacy Policy located at www.ea.com. To the extent that anything in this section conflicts or is inconsistent with the terms of EA’s Privacy Policy, the terms of the Privacy Policy shall control.

Is It 1984?

2011-08-21T09:00:00.000-06:00

Do you ever get the feeling that you're being watched? I do. And you know what? I often am when out in public. I started to wonder the other day, as I counted the cameras watching me, when did this become okay to all of us?

Everywhere we go these days there are cameras monitoring us. Speed cameras set up at intersections and on light poles. Traffic monitoring cameras on traffic lights. Security cameras in buildings and shops. Monitoring cameras set up to watch people in high traffic pedestrian areas. Spyware on your work computers so that your employer can watch you.

Is this not what we were warned about in Orwell's 1984?

Now, I know that some of you will say "As long as you're doing nothing wrong you have nothing to fear". But at what point can you say with confidence that you trust the people monitoring us? Do you agree with every law on the books? Is our law enforcement 100% trustworthy? Is our legal system infallible? What if the government started passing laws you didn't agree with? What if the system was already in place to oppress you when that happened? Could you say that you didn't see it coming?

At some point we decided that safety was more important than liberty. I think that at some point we're going to pay for that. We can't say that we weren't warned.

But that's just the way I see it.

Parents Need To Be Considerate Of Others

2011-08-19T09:17:00.001-06:00

My wife and I saw an interesting thing when we went to see a movie last night. About 4 rows down from a us sat a woman....and her infant child. Bringing a baby to a movie? Sure....nothing could possibly go wrong. babies are never noisy, are they?

This, my friends, is the definition of thoughtless, ignorant behaviour.

This seems to be a defining feature of modern society: having children and mistakenly believing that it will not affect your life. Guess what? It does. I believe that those of us who still have some standards need to start fighting back against thoughtless and rude parents. Bringing a baby to a movie is a bad, stupid idea. It is inconsiderate of others. It should not be tolerated.

Just like the parents who bring their screaming child to a restaurant and think it's okay to let them scream. They should be thrown out. Same with the parents who let their kids run around playing in a restaurant. Other patrons should not tolerate this sort of nonsense. They should make complaints to management. Just because someone has a child does not give them license to be rude and inconsiderate.

A word to the wise: having children changes your life. This is why some of us have chosen to not have children. We get called all sorts of names by people who have had kids. Things like "selfish" and other meaningless insults. But it all comes down to jealousy because their lives have never been the same and we still get sleep. Having children means that you have to take care of those children. You have to protect them and you have to provide for them. You have to teach them and discipline them. And you have to keep them in appropriate surroundings. None of this is easy or convenient for the parent. But that's the way it is and if you can't deal with that reality then you ought not to have children.

The best do it well and raise good people. Others try to ignore the change in their lives and go on as they did before, like the moron who brings their small child to an all inclusive resort in the tropics. Lame vacation for you, no fun for the kid, and annoying for others. Those who don't care about that are usually extremely defensive about it, but that's only because they know deep down that they are wrong. Me doth think they protest too much.

If you have children and let them run around in a restaurant, you are an ignoramus. If you bring a baby to a movie, you are that dangerous combination of rude and stupid. Nobody said it would be easy, but you signed up for it. Or maybe you should have used that condom after all.

But that's just the way I see it.

Canada Is Not Ready For Online Elections

2011-08-18T09:46:00.001-06:00

One thing that many of us have learned in the last little while is that the internet is not really a secure place. We all take our chances with online shopping and banking, but the only reason that we're not fleeced every time is because the places you shop and bank at are vigilant. But there are not always successful.

As society becomes more technically proficient there will be more hackers. These hackers are always targeting us. Sometimes it's to steal, sometimes it's just to be jerks, sometimes it's to protest something. But they are always after somebody and there are more and more of them all the time.

Many of us had to take precautions such as cancelling credit cards earlier this year when Sony was hacked. Since then many other companies have been hacked. Governments have been hacked as well. Do we want to trust our democracy to this? I would think not. But this hasn't stopped Elections Canada from stating that they would like to test online voting in a by-election in 2013.

Beyond the risk of outside interference from losers who live in their parents' basements, you also have the risk of interference from foreign governments or organizations that mean us no good. The internet just isn't secure enough for us to be confident that our elections won't be tampered with.

There is an additional problem with online elections, and that's scrutinization. Right now we count the ballets under the watchful eye of campaign volunteers who ensure that no funny business occurs. But online the results can't be verified by the public. This is an important consideration.

Finally, and more controversially, is the concept that online voting will lead to a stronger democracy through more voting. But I'm in the camp that thinks that the right to vote should be given some respect. People should make an informed vote. Those who take an interest in our democracy tend to vote. They also tend to follow current events and have some knowledge of what the government and our political parties are up to. Those who can't bother to get their asses off of the couch to go to a polling station don't get much sympathy from me. And does adding uninformed votes from people who use the lame "they're all the same/crooks/blahblahblah" excuse make our democracy healthier?

But that's just the way I see it.

Bring On The Oscar Movie Season! Please!!!

2011-08-10T13:52:00.001-06:00

Enough! Sequels. Superheroes. Toys made into movies. Romantic comedies. Gah! It's all so awful. Please....bring on the fall movie season, otherwise known as intelligent movie season.

My lovely wife and I really enjoy going to the movies. And even though the movie theatre experience is not as good as it used to be (because of stupid people, not because of technology), we still go to more than 25 movies per year. But the summer "blockbuster" season has gotten so bad in recent years that it's getting difficult to justify going so often.

Summer is the time for recycling at the movie house. Sequels are the biggest thing, and they almost always suck. The fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film was atrocious, for example. How many sequels were there? No less than 10 by my count. Fast Five, Pirates 4, Cars 2, Harry Potter 8, Kung Fu Panda 2, Transformers 3, Final Destination 5, Scream 4, X-Men 298.... Most of these films were poorly reviewed, and that's no surprise. But people seem to eat this crap up with two spoons! I have a theory about that, but I'll save that for another blog.

How about superheroes? X-Men, Thor, Captain America, The Green Lantern (not to be confused with the already released Green Hornet). And the usual slough of bad romantic comedies has slithered its way to the theatre again. I can't describe how bad "Crazy, Stupid, Love" was except to say that they got the "Stupid" part right. "Friends with Benefits" should have been called "Dumb vehicle to stare at good looking people".

Good grief! Can these Hollywood flunkies think of anything original? Hell they brought back Winnie the Pooh and The Smurfs this year! The freaking Smurfs!!!!

I guess every now and again you get a diamond in the rough. We saw the latest Woody Allen film this summer, "Midnight in Paris" which was a wonderful, original movie experience. The only film in the top 5 of the summer that wasn't a sequel was "Bridesmaids", which at least had a few laughs., No doubt they'll bring it back next summer for a sequel. The only other original film I saw was the disappointing Super 8. I expected better, but at least it didn't suck.

The season that intelligent snobs like me love is just around the corner. Where movies that have some semblance of character development, story and a modicum of thought put into them are released. Summer movie goers don't go to these movies, so they experience limited runs in theatres. But I make sure to get out and see as many of them as possible. I have high hopes this year after the awful summer that it's been at the picture show. All I have to do is get through the usually awful Halloween slasher film season (this year people will pay in droves to see another "Paranormal Activity" sequel and a re-make of "The Thing"). By the way, did anybody really want a re-make of "Footloose"?

Please, God. Bring on the Oscar contenders before my brain shrivels up and dies like everyone else's seems to have.

But that's just the way I see it.

Surprise! Debt And The Culture Of Irresponsibility Have Consequences!!

2011-08-05T10:26:00.000-06:00

Bam! That sound you just heard? That was your stock portfolio. In the last two weeks the New York Stock Exchange has dropped 1400 points and counting by the minute. The fall will continue. In Canada the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) has dropped as well. Looks like that debt deal in the US really averted disatster, didn't it? Investors tend to get scared when they think that an investment won't pay. Right now it doesn't look like even government will be able to truly pay their bills long-term. And if you don't have money to buy goods, the sellers can't attract investors.

But they got a debt deal done, right? Take a closer look at the deal and you'll see why the markets are running for cover. The US national debt is $14.3 Trillion. Their annual deficit is $1 Trillion. So at the current rate they would add $10 Trillion more in a decade. Again, that's assuming that their deficits stay static. The debt deal cuts $2.4 Trillion from the deficit over 10 years. That means they will add $2.4 Trillion less than they otherwise would. So they would add $7.6 Trillion to a $14 Trillion debt rather than $10 Trillion over 10 years.

Some deal. It looks like a joke because it is.

The problem is that western society from Berlin to Athens, Paris to London, Washington to Los Angeles is bloody irresponsible! Don't get me wrong, I love capitalism sprinkled with socialism and I believe that western culture is a good thing. It's progressive and civilized. But in the last 40 years we've gone from saving and buying to buying and paying off and it's crashing down on us.

The culture of irresponsibility extends from individuals to corporations to government. Everybody wants what they want now, and they'll get to paying for it later. Governments are the worst. Individuals at least get held accountable. They have to make payments on debt. Governments just keep adding to debt and saying that it's manageable compared to the size of their economies. There's not a government on the planet right now that seems to have a positive balance sheet. Very few have no net debt (Canadian Province Alberta being one of the few). The days of saying that we can afford to make the interest payments as long as they aren't too big as a proportion of expenditure have to come to an end, and the path to salvation is a difficult and painful one.

Individuals share in the madness as well. Low interest rates have led to massively inflated housing prices in many parts of the western world. A house that would have cost $140,000 ten years ago is worth half a million now. People still buy them and then take the risks of variable mortgages with low interest to make the payments work. But if the interest rate goes up, as it eventually will, these folks with a half million dollar house and two SUVs in the driveway are going to be declaring bankruptcy. What about if one of the two income earners in the house loses their job, as many are about to do for the second time in five years?

People buy everything on credit now. TV's, furniture, computers, vacations, and clothing. This has led to economic growth not based on spending from current and past earnings, but on assumed future earnings. It's a house built on sand, my friends. The inevitable has to happen, doesn't it? Well, it's happening. One event after another.

Right now every western jurisdiction except Canada is in serious economic trouble because of debt. The US's debt to GDP ratio is 100%, while Canada's is 34%. The UK is approaching 80%. Greece narrowly avoided default by a bailout by other broke EU countries. France is at 83%. Germany is approaching 80%. Ireland is well over 100%. Japan is over 120% and has been devastated by an earthquake and tsunami. These are just federal government debt figures. These don't include provinces/states/municipalities or the debts of individuals. Those numbers are much, much higher. If you have a society where your governments and people have more debt than the value of your entire economy, you know that you're asking for trouble. If the debt in total is many times that value, you are asking for disaster. The world economy is now lurching from one economic disaster to another. We're all to blame.

Want that new big screen TV? Save for it! Want to be taken care of when you retire? Save for it!. Want someone to cover your ass if you lose your job? Be prepared to pay a proper tax for that benefit. Same goes for healthcare, schools, transportation and the like. This just in....shit costs money. Quit borrowing it.

When you have a government policy of living within your means and only borrowing during emergencies, you have to make choices regarding what you want government to do. It can't be everything and everywhere. It can have a role for sure, but we have to be able and willing to pay for it. And let's not kid ourselves about the cost to everyone, including the job-creators. But the end result of a responsible set of policies will be sustainable growth and a more manageable cycle.

The lenders have made out pretty well, haven't they? Even when they lost and cost the economy trillions in 2008, the government still bailed them out. The lenders are pushing debt like drugs. People who shouldn't buy still do. Nothing is bought, it's only borrowed. But it's time to grit through the tough times and get western economies back on solid footing. The kind where goods are bought with cash and only long-term large purchases like houses and cars are purchased on credit. The kind where interest rates and lending practises reflect risk so that people who should not buy homes don't. The kind where the value of your dollar means something.

The house made of sand is crumbling. The choice is to rebuild it on the sand or abandon the culture of irresponsibility. The right choice means some sacrifice and pain.

But that's just the way I see it.

The Fall Games I'm Looking Forward To

2011-07-29T10:51:00.000-06:00

Fall 2011 will be the last holiday lead-up for the Xbox 360 and PS3 before the announcement of new consoles in 2012. Once a new set of consoles is announced, all focus will shift to those pieces of hardware and what launch games will be coming with them. I would expect that a new set of consoles will either launch for holiday 2012 or holiday 2013 at the latest. By November 2012 the Xbox 360 will be 7 years old (6 for the PS3). Time to retire. A 10 year cycle just isn't possible, no matter how much Sony wants it. So the announcements will be made in 2012. Bank on it. And if other console generations are any indication, the last year before a new console announcement will bring the best games of the current generation.

Here's what I'll be playing this fall:

Tropico 4 (PC September 1)

Tropico is my favorite strategy game out there. It used to be Civilization, but I've disliked the development of that franchise and how it's been scaled back for casuals. In Tropico you are playing a Sim-City type of game with a twist. The start date is 1950. You are a Caribbean banana republic dictator. You build your island up from nothing to an industrial hub, tourist mecca, export powerhouse or a combination of all of it. You have to deal with cold-war international relations, rebels, opposition and the like. All with a lot of humour. It's super fun to play and dangerously addictive. The latest version hits Steam September 1. $39.99 as well. Muy barato.

Batman: Arkham City (PS3, 360, PC October 18)

Arkham Asylum was an outstanding video game. The atmosphere alone was worth the playthrough. The fact that the game mechanics were so good made it a classic. To take that concept and put it in a larger sandbox will require some very good design. If they get it right then we'll have one of the best games of all time.

Battlefield 3 (PC, 360, PS3 October 25)

Battlefield is the best online game out there, in my opinion. Nothing really touches it. Even when they've scaled it down for consoles (Bad Company 1 and 2) they've made an online game that is much more fun and tactical than Call of Duty or Halo. Bringing BF back to it's PC roots is something that is a little overdue. PC gamers will get a full Battlefield experience. 64 players, huge maps, the works. Those of us who still hold the flame for Battlefield 2 are extremely excited. Console players get scaled down maps and 24 players. But the game should still blow away the competition. I'm rebuilding my PC for this.

Uncharted 3 (PS3 November 1)

Playing Uncharted is like playing a movie. I'm dying to see how this trilogy ends up, and I know that I'm going to enjoy the gameplay. The graphics look like they will be the best of this console generation. Add an online portion that looks promising and you have what may well be Game of the Year.

Saints Row the Third (PS3, 360, PC November 15)

In the absence of Grand Theft Auto for another year (grrrr!) I'll set my open world sandbox sights on SR3. This game looks like a crass, juvenile, ridiculous package of fun. I loved SR2 and though these games aren't as polished or as deep as GTA, they are still a lot of fun.

I'm also hoping to see a Grand Theft Auto announcement this fall. At three and a half years since GTA IV and only 15 to 24 months until we see new consoles, Rockstar/T2 would be remiss to let this game slip any further. A release next year would get a couple of years of sales on current consoles. A release later than that makes no sense financially. Clearly they don't want to beat this horse to death a-la Call of Duty, but they need more than one game per console cycle. We'll get 2, but should have had 3.

But that's just the way I see it.

MLS Has Come A Long Way. Time To Ditch The Stupid Team Names!

2011-07-28T15:11:00.001-06:00

There was a time when a team like Manchester United could have beat the MLS all-stars by a lot more than 4-0. They could have done that with their reserve team. While the 4-0 beat-down at the hands of ManU shows that the MLS still has a long way to go, it's also important to remember that MLS has come a long way. They've attracted star coaches and players to some degree. And while it's fashionable to disrespect David Beckham, the MLS all-star game showed that he is the one midfielder that MLS has that can play with the stars from England. Even at his age he was the best player on the MLS team. The next step to credibility is to get rid of the stupid team names that some MLS franchises have.

There are some European traditions that just don't translate well to North America. Can somebody tell me which two teams united to form DC United? Did the King of Spain anoint Real Salt Lake? Does the team from Kansas City have a sports club of large proportions serving the community attached to it?

Several teams in Spain have the name "Real". Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, and others. They were given this name by the King of Spain. It means "Royal". As in, the King honoured the teams. Did the King of Spain do this to Real Salt Lake? Certainly not. But in an effort to sound "footie", they called their team Real Salt Lake. It's beyond stupid. To soccer fans who follow the big leagues in Europe and South America, it's a joke. Sporting Kansas City is no different. In Spanish speaking countries they called their team "Sporting" because the football team was an extension of a larger sports club. In many places, the stadium isn't just a place to watch sports. It's a place where children go to school. It's integrated into the community. I don't think any MLS team can claim that.

The effort to sound "footie" just makes some teams look foolish. Ripping off Moscow Dynamo and calling the Houston team the Dynamo would be funny if it wasn't so ridiculous. Maybe DC United is called such because its fans are both Republican and Democrat. At least Chivas USA acknowledges that it is tied with the Mexican Deportivo de Guadalajara. Chivas is their nickname. It means "goats" in Spanish, by the way. But then again, I have a Mexican Chivas jersey.

The teams that go for the traditional football team name (the name of the place, and nothing more) sound much better than using traditions that don't apply. Traditional North American nicknames work too. But until the King of Spain says otherwise, I'll be laughing at MLS.

But that's just the way I see it.

How Do You Mistake Motor Oil For Heroin?

2011-07-27T09:10:00.001-06:00

Guilty until proven innocent. Apparently for border guards in Canada (and elsewhere) this is the defining paradigm. Those paid to protect our borders have made a mess of it and embarrassed us all. A grandmother from Minnesota was stopped at a Manitoba border crossing and detained for two weeks. Over what? Motor oil that border guards claimed was heroin.

This is mind blowing incompetence. These people even tried to tell their captive grandmother that they had tested the stuff and that it was heroin. They told her that they had tested it right there and then when they found it in her vehicle. Now, if you believe that load of BS, then I have some swamp land to sell you. So why the hell did they detain this lady for 12 days over motor oil? They couldn't figure out that this stuff was motor oil just by touching it and smelling it? Moronic behaviour like this should best be left on the playground, not at our border crossings. A grandmother going to play bingo spends 12 days in jail because our border guards can't tell the difference between heroin and motor oil....and can't even tell the truth about it. Unacceptable. Criminal!

I seriously doubt that there is any test in the world that would make motor oil appear as an opiate. These guards have some answering to do. Clearly they lied about it from the start. What the hell were they doing lying to a bingo playing grandmother? Why make up such a charge?

These people should be fired. These people should be charged. Let them spend some time in jail and see how they like it.

But that's just the way I see it.

Bleed Your Team's Colours? They Don't Bleed Yours!

2011-07-26T08:55:00.001-06:00

I really love the word "bandwagon" when it comes to sports. It's amazingly obtuse! Just think how much ignorance and judgemental crap goes into such a word. If you stop buying tickets because the local team sucks year over year then you're a "bandwagon jumper". What a bunch of baloney!

Professional sports teams are businesses. If you think that your team "loves" you, you are mistaken. You are a customer. Full stop. There is absolutely nothing wrong with behaving like a customer, even if you have an emotional attachment to a sports team. They have a monetary attachment to you, not an emotional one.

People who decide to vote with their wallet when the team sucks are fans just as much as the folks who stay through thick and thin. This blood is thicker than water stuff is just plain old bullshit wrapped in emotion. It could be said that those who stay away when the team sucks (or has players or managers who behave like jerks) put more pressure on the organization to improve than the ones that stay and get taken for granted.

This concept is hard to accept for die hard fans. I know. I'm one of those guys that has sports memorabilia all over his basement. Signed photos, flags, and all that. But I know full well that I am a number to the teams I cheer for. Either a TV audience number or a ticket sale number. In the past few years I've found myself to be more of a TV audience number than anything else. I've given up my tickets to both of the teams I cheer for in the last 3 years. Performance wasn't the only issue. Cost was huge. I felt like I mattered less because I wasn't rich or corporate. I got sick of the added costs like $8 beer and $12 parking (or $6 transit). I got sick of crowded washrooms and missing plays because I couldn't go to the bathroom and get an overpriced beer with enough time in between periods. I got sick of the same stale game day presentations, sometimes year over year. I got tired of security clamping down on people cheering too loud.

All of this for a huge cost. The tickets to pro sports events are difficult to justify. It's tough to get a bad seat to an NHL game for less than $50 where I live. CFL Football isn't much cheaper anymore. At least in the NHL the players get half of the money. In CFL football the players make a working wage while the network (TSN/ESPN) makes a tonne and pays peanuts to the league for broadcasting rights (because the league has no balls, pardon the pun). But it's hard for me to shell out $50-$200 for one hockey game just so a 20 year old who lives the life of riley can make another million.

So I watch at home, in HD. Does that mean I'm less of a fan? No!! Hell no! It means that these teams need to work harder to earn my businesses. Because after all, they are a business. You should never forget that. They won't.

But that's just the way I see it.

The NFL Should Run America

2011-07-25T10:23:00.002-06:00

Some people seem to realize that when there are plenty of jobs and paychecks at stake that you need to get a deal done. The biggest sports business around is the NFL. And it's the best. No offense to the Barclay's Premiership, but the NFL just does it better. Any NFL team can win the Super Bowl. Not the case in footie. If only Republicans and Democrats could realize what's at stake and see beyond their own ideologies.

The National Football League will end a 4 month lockout today with a new deal. No regular season games missed, no fans lost. Can American politicians say the same thing? I think not. The NFL knows that they need an even playing field for every team in order to ensure that every team keeps gaining and keeping fans. Nobody wants the sad realization that their team doesn't have a chance to win the big game. In the NFL how the team is managed matters as much as how well the teams play. If your team keeps sucking year after year you know that management is at fault. Why be a fan of any AL East team other than New York or Boston in Major League Baseball? You have NO chance. Those teams will just keep buying championships. The NFL has created an exciting product where every game matters and any team can win.

Now let's contrast this success with the Republicans and Democrats. These people can neither live within their means (entitlements for Democrats, Defense for Republicans) nor understand the consequences of their actions. They all foolishly think that America infallible and that nothing will happen that they can't come back from. Neither seems willing to significantly move on their core issues. If The NFL and NFLPA behaved the same way the NFL would be dead. And the US economy may well be dead, if these political jokers don't make a deal in the next few days. Of course they may just do what Major League Baseball did and delay the inevitable by just allowing themselves to spend more. Fools.

The Republicans want deep cuts in spending. The Democrats want tax increases on the rich. Same old same old. Where is the give and take that the NFL and NFLPA have shown?

So here's the solution: The NFL needs to run America.

But that's just the way I see it.

Crooks and Snoops Are Turning The Online World Against Us

2011-07-19T10:23:00.000-06:00

When I started university many years ago there was no Facebook, no iPhone or Blackberry. Cellphones were a relatively new thing and were the size of a breadbox. The internet was around, but still very new and dial up. People still went to the bank to do their banking and stores to do their shopping. I was less connected then, but had more privacy. Much more. Is the tradeoff worth it? Perhaps, but the snoops and crooks out there are making us switch from being connected to trying to be protected.

When Facebook went viral people were connecting all over the place. Old friends and school-mates re-connected. New friends were made. It was exciting. Now everybody has their Facebook accounts locked down tight. No more connecting. People are too afraid of identity theft, abusive exes, or snoopy employers or co-workers to keep their pages open to be connected. And with good reason.

Facebook and Twitter can be used for business purposes for sure, but employers and prospective employers are more and more checking to see what's on your Facebook page. Ultimately it's none of their damn business unless you're using Facebook/Twitter in conjunction with whatever they're paying you for. And if it's your private Facebook page, your employer or prospective employer should have no say in it at all. There are too many snoops out there, and those snoops are clever at trying to justify their snooping. Your private life, they say, is a reflection on your workplace. Baloney. Don't buy that BS. Your private life is your own and you are entitled to it. Your employer is not! Nonetheless always be aware that what you put on Facebook or Twitter (or your blog, like this one) is permanent, even if you delete it.

The biggest story in the media these days the the phone hacking scandal in the UK. So now your cell phone is no longer safe. People could be listening in. Hackers are always trying to get after your money. Banks and other corporations are always under attack. Just ask Sony. So while we all may be more connected and banking and shopping may be easier, you are much, MUCH less safe and your privacy, identity and money are at risk. So I ask the question: are we better off? Maybe, if we take some precautions. But even the most vigilant person can be a victim of a crook.

So what can you do? There are a few steps you can take. Be wary of wireless access points. Be sure that if you are using wireless internet at home that you encrypt your router and ensure that it isn't broadcasting. Make sure to clear your internet cache after doing internet banking. NEVER do internet banking on a public server. Never do internet banking on a public wireless access point. Only use secure servers when it comes to any personal information, be it online banking, shopping or social media. A further, more severe step is to separate your personal life and work life online. That means not having your boss as a friend on Facebook. Using a false identity that only your friends know is you is becoming popular. It's smart. Your employer or co-workers may be offended, but it's just the safer thing to do. These precautions, you will find, will take much of the convenience away from our newly connected world. But that's just the way it is.

Sad, but there it is. More connected and less safe, or less connected and more safe. Your choice. We now live in a world where we're always being watched. Cameras on roadways and at traffic lights, security cameras in public places and even some employers who plant spyware on your work computer to see what you're doing. Unacceptable, but still happening. Be careful out there!

But that's just the way I see it.

You Should Hope and Pray That The USA Doesn't Crumble

2011-07-18T09:41:00.000-06:00

Judging by how I dress, you would be correct in assuming that I'm not the most fashionable person around. One of the things that seems to be rather fashionable in Canada (and many other places) that I don't subscribe to is looking down on Americans. While it's true that the USA does seem rather self-absorbed and arrogant it is also true that they have contributed more than any other country to global security, global humanitarian causes and global prosperity. If the American Empire crumbles we will all suffer. Bank on it.

Right now the USA is slowly coming to grips with the fact that they are massively living beyond their means. The time is coming quickly where the USA will have to take many steps back in terms of what they can do domestically and globally. Their spending is out of control. Massive cuts, the kind that make Democrats wake up screaming in a cold sweat, are going to happen. Tax hikes, the kind that make Republicans call others commies, are on the menu as well.

We've all witnessed the debacle that is the Greek economy crumbling. The Americans cannot fall into the trap of thinking that they are invincible and that no matter what happen it will always come back. This time the rebound may not happen. The USA needs it's own austerity bill. Now.

Countries can only carry so much debt before they begin to lose economic credibility. This is beginning to happen to the United States of America. The USA is hitting 100% debt to GDP ratio. That means that their debt equals the entire size of their economy. Not good. Canada, by comparison is hovering in the high 30% range (Canada was at over 70% before balancing the books in 1995. It took a decade of good management, thanks Jean, Paul, Stephen and Jim, to get to where we are). Not only are the Americans carrying an unacceptable level of debt, they don't seem to be willing to do what's necessary to stop adding to it. The kind of budget deal that allows them to keep adding to their debt won't cut the mustard.

The argument in Washington is what kind of measures to take to rectify this situation. There is not consensus on raising the debt ceiling and if they do not agree to do so they will default on their debt in the first week of August. If that happens we will all suffer. Furthermore, they have to get a deal whereby they balance their budget sooner rather than later. Difficult when you're borrowing almost 10% of the size of your GDP annually. The USA adds $1 Trillion to their $14.25 Trillion debt every year. So even if they raise the amount that they allow themselves to borrow, they still are on an unsustainable path. Yet nobody seems to fully comprehend the fact that it's unsustainable. Nobody really seems to get what the consequences are. Why don't I explain some of these consequences, just for fun?

Suppose you have a store and you have a regular customer that comes in and buys loads of stuff from you every week. Suppose this is your best customer by far. Now suppose that this customer always borrows money from the bank in order to buy your stuff. Suppose this customer has borrowed so much that you begin to question whether this person will be able to always pay for the stuff they buy. What do you do? You try to attract more new customers to offset the risk, right? Well, countries that do a lot of business with the USA (they are Canada's biggest trading partner, buying everything from oil to wheat) may be looking to other markets to mitigate the considerable risk that is the United States. Growing markets like China, India, Mexico, Brazil, and Vietnam, among others. I know I've seen many a news story in recent years about Canadian leaders off on trade junkets to all of the places I've just mentioned. They aren't on vacation, folks. They're hedging their bets and it's in our best interests.

If the United States of America doesn't get it's fiscal house in order many countries will be scrambling to find better markets for their goods. Don't be so foolish as to believe that the affect won't be felt globally and massively. The USA still believes that its capital markets are strong enough to float the boat, no matter what happens. This is foolish thinking, as it the anti-American sentiment that has many cheering against America. Americans have been let down badly by their government, and their leaders now have to make tough choices for their people. We should all hope that they are willing to grit through those tough choices, and spend the next decade getting back on track.

But that's just the way I see it.

Steam Has Saved PC Gaming

2011-07-10T09:56:00.000-06:00

The most versatile gaming console: what would it be? Would it have the ability to play DVDs and Blu-Ray discs? High definition? Ability to process HD audio and surround sound? HDMI? How about the ability to not just game, but easily surf the internet? Email? Photos and video? How about office productivity? What about the ability to upgrade its video processing without having to upgrade everything? Multiple input devices like controllers, mouse and keyboard?

Yeah? Well, then. Just build a good PC and you'll have it.

For the price of the iPad (an Apple netbook without the same functionality at a higher price) or a gaming console at launch, you can upgrade your PC to do all of the things that I have just mentioned and put any console to shame. And it's far easier than most think.

Consoles have pushed PC games out of retail stores. It seemed for a while like PC was going to be eliminated as a viable gaming option. Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 had brought high definition gaming to your living room, in surround sound. They were cheaper than gaming PCs and had robust online options.

The problem with consoles isn't the cost of the hardware. It's the cost of the software! At upwards of $70 per game, new PS3 and 360 games are certainly no bargain. In fact, it is becoming more and more difficult to justify spending that kind of dough on an 8 to 12 hour experience. Every now and again a game comes along that has a huge online presence (Battlefield, Call of Duty, Halo) where you sink dozens if not hundreds of hours into it. Then it becomes a worthwhile purchase.

Another problem with consoles is that the current generation of consoles has overstayed its welcome. The 360 is almost 6 years old, while the PS3 and Wii are both nearing 5 years. Nintendo will be merely happy to catch up to Sony and Microsoft next year, while neither Sony nor MS has announced new consoles yet. Which means that Nintendo will launch an obsolete console 6 years after launching the Wii while Sony and MS will be stretching their already obsolete consoles to 7 or 8 year life-cycles.

Graphically, what is possible on 360 or PS3 cannot touch what is possible on a gaming PC. A decent quad core processor from Intel or AMD with a mid range video card can output visuals that far surpass anything on a console, and at a smoother frame rate. Many console games only run at 30 frames per second and at 720p. A gaming PC can play the same game in a much higher resolution (1600x1200 minimum for a 22 inch widescreen monitor...they're really cheap now...like $150) and get a minimum of 40 frames per second, which makes the game much easier on the eyes and look much smoother.

Steam has made PC gaming viable again. While the retail stores have given less and less space to PC games, online stores like Direct2Drive and Steam have kept old classics and new games alike available. The PC versions on Steam or other services are most often $20 cheaper than their console versions as well. And with your account, you can re-download titles you have previously purchased. The games are automatically updated with patches. No fuss. Easy. No more stacks of game cases. No packaging. Games that aren't new releases are often dirt cheap, and there are frequent sales and specials with newer games at ridiculous prices. If I pay $600 to upgrade a PC and $300 for a console, I make back that $300 in no time flat by paying so much less for the software. Over a span of 3-4 years I will easily come out ahead by no small amount of money.

And no discussion of PC gaming in this context can not include some measure of well deserved praise for Microsoft and its PC OS Windows 7. Contrary to popular Mac fanboy belief, Windows 7 is an exceptional operating system. Extremely stable, easy to use and with a file system that is intuitive and makes sense. I use a Mac at work every day, and while it's a fine system, I wouldn't trade Win 7 for it and certainly wouldn't say that it's easier to use. It's just not. Windows 7 allows you to organize your files using the software products you want, not just some proprietary software (with proprietary cables) that the computer maker wants you to use. You can more easily find your music, video and photos as files rather than being steered to access them through said proprietary software. And it is a much friendlier gaming platform.

So PC gaming is here to stay thanks to the magic of digital distribution. I couldn't be happier.

But that's just the way I see it.

It's Not Okay To Be Overweight....Or Underweight

2011-07-04T13:56:00.001-06:00

You know, kids are cruel. A lot of what happens to us when we are young we carry around as baggage when we are adults. For those of us who didn't look like prince charming when we were in junior high, those years were not a lot of fun. But some of us managed to have fairly good self esteem as adults anyway. The pressure over looks can be really heavy for a young person and so many carry that into adulthood. However, how you look seems to have taken a front seat while how healthy you are takes a back seat. This is not good.

There seem to be a number of public relations campaigns out there that are trying to convince people that beauty is 100% on the inside and that being overweight is not just okay, but beautiful. Doctors everywhere must be rolling their eyes....or cursing under their collective breath.

Now, I know that this particular blog will offend a few people ( I had a person I've known since I was 5 un-friend me on facebook over this argument). But facts are facts. It is not okay to be overweight.... or underweight.

It is horrid how so many women are bombarded with pressure filled imagery of "beautiful" skinny women. Models, actresses and the like. But I'll let you women in on a secret. Those skinny broads are not hot. Most men I know would rather have a woman who is slightly overweight than a stick-skinny and gaunt one. The attempts at brainwashing young girls are despicable not only because they lead to terrible self esteem and unhealthy choices, but because they simply don't reflect reality. Girls, men want real, not fake, healthy, not unhealthy. There are real health dangers to being underweight, such as compromised immune system, osteoporosis, hair loss, low muscle mass. But just as it's wrong to convince women that super-skinny is beautiful, it is no less wrong to convince people, men and women, that it's okay to be overweight. It's not. Ask your doctor.

Even 20 extra pounds adds significant health risks for men and women. The New England Journal of Medicine published a study that stated all forms of cancer are found more often in people with a higher body mass. It likely comes as no surprise that heavier people have more heart attacks and heart disease. But many don't know that heart disease is the #1 cause of death among men and women in America while cancer and heart disease rank 1 and 2 in Canada among both men and women. There have been medical studies linking weight to everything from stroke and diabetes to gallstones, sex drive and erectile dysfunction. And we're not just talking about people who are majorly obese. We're talking clinically overweight, which can mean you if you're 20 pounds over your ideal weight. The Heart and Stroke Foundation has stated that more than 60% of Canadians are overweight. That's an epidemic.

So while you shouldn't give in to the pressure of skinny female models or ripped male models, you also shouldn't accept as truth that it's okay to be overweight. It certainly is not. I can testify to it. That 25 pounds I've been trying to lose for the last 10 years put me in the hospital with a blocked coronary artery at age 38. Think it can't happen to you? Think again. And it's hard enough for people to lose weight without telling them that they don't even have to.

But that's just the way I see it.

Violent Video Games Should Not Be Sold To Children

2011-06-29T08:07:00.000-06:00

This week the video game media are cheering. The US Supreme Court struck down a California law that prohibited the sale of violent video games to minors. Hailed as a victory for free speech by those in the video game industry, it was quite simply the wrong decision.

Most countries restrict the sale and viewing of adult films to adults. They also restrict children from entering "R" rated movies (or 18A). But somehow it is a restriction of the right to free speech to prevent a 12 year old from buying the latest Grand Theft Auto game? Ridiculous.

Don't get me wrong. Those of you who regularly read this space know that I love Grand Theft Auto and a host of other games that are best enjoyed by grown ups. But I do not endorse having kids play them. Do I think that these games will warp their little minds? Yes, I do. Just like I think that exposure to pornography at a young age will warp your sexuality. Just like I think that viewing a violent movie at a young age will warp perceptions. I saw Jaws when I was 8 years old. I never forgot the scene where Quint gets it. Stayed with me for years. I think I stopped having shark nightmares only a few years ago.

There is such a thing as age-appropriate regardless, isn't there? Even if violent games and movies didn't warp minds, they still aren't appropriate for children. Isn't something wrong when a young kid is desensitized to violence? Is this what a childhood should be? I think not. Do we think that a child who is desensitized to violence or sex will have proper resect for either concept as an adult? Foolishness.

Of course, the industry believes that this is the job of parents. With films we have long warned parents that certain movies required some discretion. We categorize them to match that reality. Some films anyone can get into. Some a minor can enter with an adult. Some are adults only. Why not the same thing with video games. Some games any can buy. Some have to be bought by adults. If a parent thinks that young Jimmy is mature enough to handle Gear of War, then that is their choice as a parent. If young Jimmy is 8 years old, I would suggest that his parents aren't very good parents. But they still get to make the choice.

California had it right. The US Supreme Court, the gaming industry, and the gaming media, got it wrong.

But that's just the way I see it.

LA Noire: 2011's Biggest Disappointment...So Far

2011-06-28T10:36:00.000-06:00

When a game takes more than 6 years to make you know that something has gone wrong. Without getting into the awful reviews pouring in for the latest Duke Nukem game, which took 12 years to make, let's just say I'm not surprised. 6 Years is a long development time, especially since most console generations have been less time than that.

Now, the reviews for LA Noire have been rather positive. Allow me to be the dissenting opinion. This game is broken, boring and downright annoying. Let me tell you why I feel this way.

Made in the vein of classic film noire, LA Noire brings a lot of that genre to bear in it's execution. There are some very cool aspects to LA Noire. But I've never seen a film noire with such a flat out goody goody two shoes lead character. Cole Phelps is not a proper film noire lead. He is out of place, and incredibly annoying. It's the supporting characters that you don't get to play as that are interesting. The atmosphere is there, it's just wasted on Cole Phelps.

The re-creation of Los Angeles in the late 40's is remarkable. But a lot of it is cookie cutter and not worth exploring. It's the landmarks and stylings that are interesting. After the first while you just end up skipping your trips to get where you are going faster. The game sets you up with a partner. These characters are always interesting, but they are always with you. This makes exploration annoying. In an open world game there has to be fun in exploration. Otherwise you may as well just make a linear game. In LA Noire you are always on a case. There isn't the free roam and mission pickup icons like in other open world games like Grand Theft Auto.

LA Noire is a story that sees the main character, Cole Phelps, progress from beat cop up through the ranks. The story is an interesting one. The problem is that no matter what you do the story will progress. Each case sees you investigate a scene or multiple scenes and interrogate suspects. But no matter how the interrogation goes the story progresses. You are rated at the end of the case, but there is no way to fail. That's a failure on the part of the developers. How can there be any tension without the possibility of consequence?

The interrogations themselves make no sense half of the time. You have the option of believing the suspect's statement, doubting them or accusing them of lying. If you accuse them you have to have evidence to back it up. But the difference between accusing them of lying and doubting them is never clear. Nor is the difference between believing them and doubting them. It doesn't matter anyway since you will progress regardless.

Investigations are rather annoying in LA Noire. Basically, you walk around crime scenes and when you get near something worth looking at your control pad rumbles. Then you have the task of making sure that your character lines up just right with the object. Then about half the time the object is not relevant anyway.

There are some chases and shootouts in LA Noire. These are often the most fun parts of the game, but also the most inconsequential. The combat works like in Grand Theft Auto IV, which is a good thing. Some of these shootouts and chases take place in the side missions that you pick up over the police radio. It gets annoying to address these side missions since you often end up having to drive some ways in a different direction from where you were initially headed. They help your character level up, which does absolutely nothing for you except open up the ability to remove one of the wrong answers from an interrogation in "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" style. Silly.

I looked forward to LA Noire for a long time. I love film noire, and I love good open world video games. But like GTA IV, I am again disappointed by a Rockstar Games product. Many critics have conveniently overlooked this game's flaws and focused on it's atmosphere and story. But to the gamer who has to pay $70 for the game and doesn't get it free to review (along with advertising dollars from the publisher), flaws become much harder to ignore.

But that's just the way I see it.

What Are "Low" Taxes?

2011-06-27T14:48:00.000-06:00

One of the most perplexing conservative buzz phrases is "low" taxes. But at what point can a conservative say that taxes are low and should be lowered no more?

Take Alberta's Wildrose Alliance. Leader Danielle Smith stated this past week that her party is a "government in waiting" and that when elected they will lower taxes. Great! Everyone wants lower taxes, right? But what if taxes are already low?

In Alberta the personal income tax rate is 10% regardless of income level. And the first $17,000 you earn is tax free. You know what I call that? I call that LOW taxes! So where is there room to lower them?

Alberta is currently in a deficit situation to the tune of over $3Billion, according to Premier Ed Stelmach. That's about $1Billion better than the budget forecast from a couple of months ago. But a $3Billion deficit is still a $3Billion deficit. So what programs does Ms. Smith propose to cut in order to lower taxes and balance the budget? Which comes first?

This is why I hate narrow ideologies. They can spin lines like "people deserve to keep the money they earn" to the masses and have many of them buy into that logic. After all, who doesn't think that you should be able to keep the money you earn? But the implication that money that the government coerces out of you in taxes is automatically wasted is misleading. Conservatives always want smaller government until they need it. Farmers vote Conservative and then want government help when it rains too much, or not at all. Businesses want lower taxes but bailouts when the going gets rough or if they've been reckless with money and jobs. They ALL have to admit that they want that safety net that government provides. At least the honest ones do. We are all socialists to some extent.

So what's the balance? I'd say that 10% with $17,000 tax free is a nice balance, considering we have universal health care, public schools, post-secondary institutions, seniors programs and public infrastructure to pay for.

At least Canada's federal government has been more honest about why they want to cut corporate taxes to the lowest rate in the G20. They want to undercut their allies. Straight up. I'm down with that. But cheap pandering with simplistic ideas? That I'm not in favour of.

But that's just the way I see it.

What The Hell Is Nintendo Thinking?

2011-06-24T09:50:00.000-06:00

Allow me to be the dissenting opinion regarding Nintendo's new console, the Wii U. Announced at E3 this year, albeit without any real details, Nintendo has designed a console intended to keep the casual gamers that bought the Wii and regain the hardcore gamers that they lost. Their plan, however, won't work.

The Wii U is a console that will have similar power to the PS3 and 360. Nintendo has stated that Wii U won't be significantly more powerful. This is a silly decision. Xbox 360 is 6 years old this November and PS3 5 years old the same month. Designing a system to match already obsolete hardware makes no sense. In 24 months one or both of Sony and Microsoft will launch a new system that will be significantly more powerful, leaving Nintendo in the dust again. Developers who are already starting to push Sony and Microsoft in the new console direction aren't going to waste valuable resources on outdated hardware. The Wii U will release next year and will have 12-24 months as a platform on par with the competition. That means that multi-platform titles that are released for 360 and PS3 will also be released for Wii U. But as soon as those development kits for new consoles get sent out things will change.

Nintendo has made some bizarre decisions with respect to Wii U. First is the lack of a hard drive. Using card based memory rather than the large capacity of a hard drive makes no sense because it doesn't address the rising popularity of digital downloads. Make no mistake, the physical copies of games you buy at the game store are on the way out. Yet Nintendo will be forced to sell the physical copies of games.

Wii U will also be a one controller system. The main controller has a 5" touchscreen and two analog nubs. While there is potential in that setup, there are limitations as well. Ask any PSP owner whether an analog stick is better than a nub and you will get my meaning. And how do you play co-op, or competitively when the system only has one controller? Wii U will force people to use old Wii controllers as well. None of this seems well thought out.

Nintendo used to be a gaming company. Now they are a company of cheap gimmicks. Well, not that cheap, but gimmicky nonetheless. No thanks, Reggie.

But that's just the way I see it.

The Lure of PC Gaming Is Back In A Big Way

2011-06-21T10:22:00.000-06:00

Gamer or not, there's only so long that a computer lasts before obsolescence sets in. For me, I believe that, sadly, that time has nearly arrived.

As a gamer I've always liked to have the option of PC gaming open to me. There are certain types of games that are just better on a PC than on a console. Strategy games like Civilization and Starcraft are PC exclusive games for a reason. First person shooters are often better on a PC because you have better matchmaking, server choices and a more precise control input.

Other types of games are just better on a console. Adventure and action games, platformers, and even some shooters are made for consoles. Even though I can play Mass Effect on a PC, I don't. But for hardcore gamers, the lure of PC gaming is stronger now than it has been for some time. There are a few reasons for this.

First, this November will be the 6th anniversary of the release of the Xbox 360 and the 5th for PS3 and Wii. The Wii was badly dated the day it was released. The PS3 was cutting edge, but no longer is. Sony gambled in some ways this console generation and lost, finishing 3rd, even though they have averaged more sales per year than Microsoft. They spent a tonne of cash developing the Cell processor and nobody ever maxed it out. It was expensive and difficult to program for. It increased the cost of PS3 and that cost Sony market share. Almost 5 years later, what was cutting edge is being blown away by what's possible on PC. In fact, that's been true for quite some time now. The difference is getting rather noticeable, even for games that are also on consoles. Better textures, effects, antialiasing and draw distance are making games look far superior on a good PC.

The second reason that PC gaming is becoming more attractive is the rise of digital downloads. You no longer need the game store. Just buy online and download. Services like Steam and D2D are making games more accessible and cheaper. Without the expense of packaging, new PC games average $20 cheaper on Steam than console games in the game store. While console games are now moving in this direction, the hardware often doesn't have the storage capacity to keep up with a large game collection. A 1TB hard drive can be had for a PC for under $50.

Finally, the third reason is that the online experience is better. Microsoft is still charging people $60 a year to play online. Ridiculous. On a PC the only fees you pay for monthly subscriptions for MMOs. And that's just because for an MMO content development is ongoing and costs money. For online shooters like Battlefield and Call of Duty or strategy games Like Starcraft 2 and Civilization V, there are no fees to play online. While there is no fee to play on Sony's console, that may change in the future. In any event, the matchmaking is better for PC games. A list of servers showing how many people are playing, what the ping is and what kind of game is being played is far better than the typical auto-matchmaking of consoles. Quite frankly, Microsoft's policy of charging for PvP is insane.

Microsoft and Sony have yet to even announce new consoles. Sony has stated that a new Playstation is not coming any time soon. When PS3 launched they talked about doubling the console cycle from 5 years to 10 years. But the PS3 was not futureproof enough to last 10 years. The 360 certainly isn't. And if Nintendo's new console, the Wii U, is only on par with PS3, then that's a huge error. It will be outdated on arrival, just the the Wii was. But this time the novelty of motion control will have run its course with Wii, Kinect and Move. Add in the lack of a hard drive (memory cards? for real?) and you have a console that won't meet the needs of even casual gamers in the next 5 years.

The one drawback to PC gaming is the cost of hardware. To build a good gaming PC from scratch you could set yourself back $1200 or more. If you can reuse components like case, DVD and PSU, then you can get the cost down about half. But considering that people howled when the PS3 launched for more than $600, PC gaming's cost is the one thing that holds it back from dominating consoles. On the other hand, a PC is much more functional than a console. It is a gaming machine, office machine, mass storage machine, and digital media machine. And the universality of components and inputs makes it more practical than a Mac, with it's proprietary nonsense (as Android passes iPhone in the marketplace, Apple should take notice).

I'm currently just past the 4 year mark since I built my current PC. Back then I was stoked about the performance of the thing. I put a Core 2 Duo at 2.13ghz, a 9800 GT and 2GB of RAM in dual channel in there. Laughable now, but 4 years ago it was a fast machine. In fact, my machine only started struggling with some games in the past year. And those games were very CPU intensive. I've upgraded my video card from that 9800GT to a GTX 560ti. It's double the card, but there's still the matter of that 4 year old processor. I've safely given it a slight overclock to 2.4ghz and with the new card, that PC has some new life. I can't fool myself, though. I need a rebuild to keep up. I'm just delaying the inevitable.

There's not a chance that I'll get past the 5 year anniversary of my PC build before I will have to rebuild to keep PC gaming open as an option. There are other factors as well. For home office use, a faster processor and better RAM will be needed to avoid the inevitable slowdown that will come with the next round of bloated office suites and internet browsers. Since new consoles from companies that actually cater to hardcore gamers won't arrive for a couple of years at least, PC gaming it is. The rebuild will commence within a year. Happy gaming.

But that's just the way I see it.

Microsoft Becomes the New Nintendo

2011-06-06T12:05:00.000-06:00

Today Microsoft had its 2011 E3 Conference. As someone whom the games industry describes as "hardcore", I was decidedly underwhelmed. Microsoft has become the new Nintendo. Casting hardcore gamers aside in favour of soccer moms, Microsoft has fully embraced the motion control fad.

Nintendo proved several things in the last 5 years. One of them is that motion controls don't necessarily make for good games. In fact, they often make for dumbed down, simplistic games. What I saw at Microsoft's conference today was more of the same. Lots of simplistic looking games with the only difference being that you don't hold a controller. I also saw games that look like they would be much more fun played with a controller with Kinect motion controls tacked on. It looks a lot like what I saw from Nintendo 5 years ago.

Nintendo is launching a new console, which they will show off at E3 tomorrow. Rumours abound that Nintendo will make a return to the hardcore market. Perhaps even Nintendo has realized that motion controls don't make great games. They make simple games for casual gamers. This is a 180 degree turnaround for Microsoft, who were at one time the champion of hardcore gamers.

Nintendo also showed that motion control hardware sells like hotcakes, but that software doesn't. The novelty effect wears off. Microsoft should be analyzing why Nintendo is moving back towards hardcore gamers. It's because they couldn't attract third party developers for long because the games don't sell well. Why? Because they just don't turn out to be very good.

Let's face it, games are better with a traditional controller. People don't really want to flail their arms and legs about to play a video game. If you wanted to play real soccer, you'd play real soccer. The gimmick looks cool at first and casual gamers run out and buy it. But the novelty wears off and the hardware collects dust. Developers just stick with the hardcore, and for good reason.

Microsoft spent most of its E3 presser on Kinect. I won't be spending my money on Microsoft.

But that's just the way I see it.

Why You Shouldn't Cheer On Brigette DePape

2011-06-05T18:21:00.001-06:00

This past week a Senate page named Brigette DePape stood in silent protest of the Conservative Government by holding a "Stop Harper!!!" sign up to the camera during the Speech From The Throne. Then later in an interview she stated that what she was doing was democratic because "democracy doesn't just happen every 4 years". She also stated that she did what she did because Harper's government was "offensive to Canadian values".

Really, Ms. DePape? We just had an election where 40% of Canadians voted for the Conservatives. You can state all you want that 60% of Canadians voted against them, but that number grows larger when you apply that to every other party! And 40% of the voting public isn't something that can be brushed off. They voted Conservative! They looked at the parties and chose the one that they thought had the best platform that....matched up with their values! Yet Ms. DePape believes that these cannot BE Canadian values. Well guess what Brigette, they are! And so are yours! You do not have a monopoly on Canadian values. Neither do I. Neither does Stephen Harper. Canada is diverse country that has a large variance in beliefs and values. Are people not Canadian if they don't agree with you? You may as well tell people that they aren't Canadian if they don't celebrate Christmas. You know what that is, Brigette? It's called bigotry.

So she made a fool of herself by disrespecting Parliament and every Canadian by association. The job of a Parliamentary page is one that is highly sought after and she threw it away! Somehow she ended up with a degree but didn't understand that our democratic system needs Parliamentary support staff to be non-partisan while on the job. How could she not understand that she was mocking democracy with her "democratic" protest? What the hell are we teaching in our universities these days? This action certainly isn't the result of serious critical thinking. All it did was make people scoff at Brigette DePape and people who think as she does. She just made the road much more difficult for people who agree with her politically because she made them all look like untrustworthy, childish amateurs who don't respect our country's institutions.

Furthermore, Canadians should be appalled at the arrogance of Brigette DePape's statements after the fact. Why do Canadian socialists believe that to be Canadian you have to be a socialist? What if Brigette DePape was Prime Minister and not Stephen Harper? Would that mean that our government would consider those who didn't vote for her party to not be Canadian because only her party represents Canadian values? A chilling thought. And is Ms. DePape in jail or being tortured for her childish act? Nope. She wasn't even charged. Yet she says we need our own version of the "Arab Spring"? Comparing Stephen Harper to Arab dictators like Gaddafi? Is she for real?

And what is it about Stephen Harper's Conservatives that is so un-Canadian anyway? Was it the billions they spent stimulating the economy? Was it the thousands of auto sector jobs they saved? Was it the extension of EI benefits during a recession? Was it the transit pass deduction? Was it the continual increase in transfers to the Provinces for healthcare? Was it the tax incentive for children to play sports and be active? Of course, no credit goes to any of that as long as he wants a lower corporate tax rate or F-35 jets. This is what makes him so offensive? What a bunch of pap. Again, I ask: what the hell are we teaching in our universities these days? The government is better off funding technical institutes.

But that's just the way I see it.

Rating All The James Bond Films

2011-06-01T10:07:00.000-06:00

Those of you who read this blog know that occasionally I am prone to posting complete and utter nonsense. Well, let's continue that trend. So here I go. Let's rate all of the "official" James Bond films. I am a huge fan of 007, but have to admit that after going through all of the James Bond films that most of them are crap. I have read most of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels as well, and my ideal of James Bond is based on the books. In my view, very few of the films got it right, even if they were somewhat entertaining. So let's get on with this purely subjective drivel....

Dr. No (1962) 8/10
The first James Bond film, Dr. No is an excellent spy thriller. It follows the book fairly well, too. Connery is excellent as Bond, and the film doesn't get too ridiculous. A great villain and a delicious Bond girl set the formula for the franchise.

From Russia With Love (1963) 10/10
In my view, From Russia With Love is the best James Bond film of them all. The film follows the book fairly well, and the casting is amazing. Robert Shaw plays a fantastic villain, and Connery is again spot on. I love this film because it is a real espionage tale involving the theft of a decoding machine. There is no silly world-might-blow-up nonsense. Bond fans are introduced to SPECTRE in this film as well, with a great villain in Rosa Klebb.

Goldfinger (1964) 8/10
Considered by many to be the definitive James Bond film, Goldfinger is a seriously entertaining film. Goldfinger is a wonderful villain, and Bond's progression through the story is perfectly paced. The script and Connery's performance are exceptional. Though plot is really secondary to style, the film pulls it off.

Thunderball (1965) 7/10
The last of the James Bond films to not have a silly plot full of cute gadgets and ridiculous consequences, Thunderball features great locales and atmosphere. SPECTRE's ransom of nuclear weapons starts the trend of Bond movies having bond save the world. Largo is a ruthless and evil villain, as well.

You Only Live Twice (1967) 6/10
This is where James Bond started to go off the rails. Hollowed out volcanoes and Donald Pleasnace's performance as Blofleld were to be the stuff of parody 30 years later. Mini helicopters with machine guns began the gadget-heavy cartoonish James Bond that would be the standard for 30 years. Connery's lack of enthusiasm is obvious and it is no surprise that he quit the role after this film. Still, there are some entertaining parts to this film that can't be ignored.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) 7/10
In 1969 the #1 male model in Europe was George Lazenby. As the new James Bond, Lazenby wasn't immediately accepted and his acting ability was questioned. His announcement that he would not play James Bond again prior to the premier ensured that his one outing as James Bond wasn't as successful as it could have been. As a film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service is rather good. Telly Savalas as the villain Blofeld and Diana Rigg as the Bond girl were above average casting decisions for James Bond films. The story follows the book almost exactly. It's shock ending wasn't changed for Hollywood, making this a classic Bond film.

Diamonds Are Forever (1971) 4/10
Sean Connery's return as James Bond in 1971 wasn't a great decision. At this time Connery already looked too old for the part, and the story was ludicrous. Bathed in early 70's kitsch, Diamonds Are Forever is one of the worst James Bond films.

Live and Let Die (1973) 7/10
After playing Simon Templar, Roger Moore was a natural choice to play James Bond. His first Bond film is arguably his best. A decent story with great performances all around set this apart from many Bond films. The fact that this is one of the few Bond films where the consequences of Bond failing isn't the end of the world is a huge plus.

The Man With The Golden Gun (1974) 6/10
Moore's second Bond film was second rate compared to his first. The casting was good, but the story was dull. The film's ending was typical 70's Bond fare: blow it all up. Boring.

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) 5/10
If you like lots of gadgets and underwater cars then this is the Bond film for you. Bond in bell bottom slacks never did work for me, and the ridiculous story couldn't be saved by Curt Jurgens' excellent performance as the villain.

Moonraker (1979) 4/10
The first half of Moonraker is excellent. Espionage, intrigue and action are the order of the day. The second half of Moonraker is just awful. Bond flying a space shuttle? Space battles? Terrible.

For Your Eyes Only (1981) 7/10
After the horrid Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only was a deal breaker for the Bond franchise. Good thing that it's a rather decent film. The only thing I really hated about this movie was the terrible score. But this Bond film does away with end-of-the-world scenarios and silly gadgets in favour of a straight ahead spy story. That change was welcome. Moore's portrayal of a more cold Bond was excellent.

Octopussy (1983) 5/10
1983 saw a return to the silly side of James Bond with Octopussy. Lots of gadgets and another world-will-end plot added up to a bad Bond film. There are some good action sequences, but it's just too much comedy for me.

A View To A Kill (1985) 6/10
Roger Moore's last Bond film has the best Bond villain of all time: Christopher Walken as Max Zorin. Parts of this movie are silly, but it does have some very good sequences as well. Moore clearly looks too old for the part here, but this isn't a bad James Bond film. It's just not great either.

The Living Daylights (1987) 6/10
Timothy Dalton proved that being a great actor doesn't mean that you'll be a great James Bond. Writing matters to movies and Dalton was let down badly in this film. Some of the dialogue is cringe inducing. A shame, since the story is a return to a more book-like James Bond. This film starts out strong but fades towards the end. I have to say that I like Dalton, but this isn't classic Bond.

License to Kill (1989) 5/10
Dalton's second and last James Bond film is a violent and gritty action film. Not much espionage going on here. An atypical James Bond film. Dalton deserved better.

Goldeneye (1995) 6/10
The guy who would have been James Bond in the 80's were it not for contractual obligations was now in the role many believed he was born for. But be careful what you wish for. In my view, Pierce Brosnan is an excellent actor, but was not an excellent James Bond. Something about his portrayal of Bond always rubbed me the wrong way and didn't ring true. Goldeneye as a film isn't too bad, though. Sean Bean makes a great villain, but the story just isn't that good. Goldeneye did feature Judi Dench as "M" for the first time.

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) 7/10
Brosnan's most entertaining Bond film features Jonathan Pryce as the fantastic Bond villain. This Bond outing has some great action sequences, entertaining dialogue and a fun story. It's a bit ridiculous, but is put together well enough to recommend.

The World Is Not Enough (1999) 3/10
Beating out the awful Moonraker is a tough job, but The World is Not Enough manages to do it. Easily the worst Bond film, this total piece of garbage has terrible writing, a dumb story and a boring plot. Skip it.

Die Another Day (2002) 4/10
Pierce Brosnan's final Bond film featured some great casting including John Cleese and Hally Berry. But it is so cartoonish that it is impossible to like. Invisible cars and ice hotels. 'Nuff said. Like Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan deserved better, and so did James Bond fans.

Casino Royale (2006) 8/10
The long awaited re-boot of the James Bond franchise brought Bond back to the first Bond novel, Casino Royale. Cast as James Bond, Daniel Craig was a surprising choice for many. But on screen Craig proves to be the best Bond since Sean Connery's early Bond portrayals. The film could have used a tighter script and it goes on a little too long. Still, it is always entertaining. An excellent cast and Craig's performance make this one of the best James Bond films.

Quantum of Solace (2008) 7/10
The sequel to Casino Royale wasn't as well received, although I quite frankly liked it. Craig continues his excellent portrayal of Bond. The story isn't as good as Casino Royale, but there are some exceptional sequences in this film, including a shootout at an opera where the sounds of gunfire are omitted in favour of the operatic score. Excellent. Violent and complex, I really think that this one is under-rated.

It appears that we will get a 23rd James Bond film in 2012. That's fine by me. I like Daniel Craig as James Bond. And since Sam Mendes is slated to direct, I'm looking forward to it.

Note: Unofficial James Bond films are not included in these ratings. These films include 2 early versions of Casino Royale (one made in the 50's for American TV with an American lead "Jimmy" Bond, and another a very bad British comedy made in 1967 starring David Niven) and the 1983 re-make of Thunderball, "Never Say Never Again". Never Say Never is worth mentioning because it's a real film and stars Sean Connery and Kim Basinger and was directed by Irvin Kirschner who also directed The Empire Strikes Back. It is a decent remake, although Connery was clearly too old for the role, and it showed.

But that's just the way I see it.

Celebrate Your Birthdays, Don't Freak Out Over Them!

2011-05-30T10:26:00.000-06:00

You know what I hate? I hate old people who treat young people like shit. I hate those grumpy old buggers that think that because they are old that they have the right to piss and moan about everything and to scowl at young people for the crime of being young. It's just jealousy, nothing more. Furthermore, it's irrational jealousy, and should not be tolerated.

If I make it to 80 years old, I'm not going to scowl at young people or look on them with jealous eyes. Know why? Because I will have made it to 80! I will have had my years. I'll have made it to 80 years without dying of cancer or being killed in a car accident. Will every 16 year old at that time be able to look forward to the same future? How many friends or family members have you lost over the years?

This is how I feel about turning 40. Statistically I'm now officially middle aged and it just doesn't bother me. I don't feel the sudden urge to run out and buy a sports car or motorbike either. Quite frankly, I'd rather be middle aged than young again. Those years were hard, and I wouldn't want to re-live them. My life now is much more enjoyable than having to live with my parents and go through high school.

I just don't feel old. I likely never will feel old even when I am. I feel sorry for all of those people who get past age 30 and start freaking out about their birthdays. Somehow they see it as one year closer to the grave and not a celebration of the fact that they haven't hit the grave yet. I think that says something about them, doesn't it? I'm one of these people who has lots to live for. Good job, wife, home. Every year when I celebrate the day of my birth, I tend to see it as a happy occasion. I get to keep doing this.

Sure, not everything in life has turned out the way I would have wanted. Not every choice I made was a good one, some set me back years. And the choices of some of the people I grew up with weren't so hot either. At 40, I realize that the older you get the faster time appears to move. That doesn't worry me, but it's a great incentive to not take much for granted. I'm situated quite well thanks to my excellent mother and father and my decision at age 20 to stop being a good time charlie and go to school. I have other people to thank as well, but I try not to name names on my blog. But some people, like the guy that hired me when I was 27, deserve more thank yous than I can give.

Worrying about when you're going to die is silly. Think that just because you're not "old" that you're not going to die? You or I could die tomorrow. Car crash, cancer, lighting strike, freak accident....you never know. You might be 80 years old and think that you're getting close to the station and then end up with 20 years more. You don't know. None of us do. So don't freak out about your birthday.

Happy 40th to me. My life is worth celebrating because it is fantastic.I think I'll go buy myself a present and then have a few beers. I deserve it.

But that's just the way I see it.

The NHL's Success in Winnipeg Isn't Guaranteed

2011-05-26T10:33:00.000-06:00

I understand fully why people in Winnipeg are over the moon with respect to their impending re-entry into the ranks of NHL cities. And putting an NHL team in another Canadian city is a popular concept north of the border. After all, Canadians tend to see hockey as their game and have no willingness to believe that an NHL franchise might not be a success in any major Canadian city. But I don't believe that success in Winnipeg is a slam dunk.

It's not news to anybody that the Atlanta Thrashers are about to become the Winnipeg Jets. The Thrashers were not well supported in Atlanta, averaging only 13,500 fans per game. No doubt that figure is somewhat inflated as well, as many NHL teams tend to announce attendance as tickets sold (including giveaways). But in Winnipeg, even if every home game is sold out you can manage no better than 15,000 fans per game, only 1,500 per game more than Atlanta. Winnipeg is also a much smaller television market than Atlanta. The 'Peg has a metro population of just over 700,000. That is small market defined! That's 300,000 people less than Canada's other small markets, Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa all of which have a million people in their metropolitan areas.

So Winnipeg is starting with a smaller base of support and a building that is too small for the NHL anyway. Not only that, but the MTS Centre doesn't have the required number of luxury boxes either. So the Jets would be dealing with 3,000+ fewer seats than the average NHL building, and far less corporate revenue. Winnipeg, as a city, doesn't have the same corporate money as other Canadian NHL markets anyway. So to make a go of it in Winnipeg, they will either need to build a new building or rip apart the MTS centre and expand it. Talking about expanding the MTS centre as if it's easy to do is foolish. You can't just take a building like the MTS centre and reconfigure it to add 20% more seats. Ripping apart an arena structure is questionable, to be kind. And replacing a building that is less than 10 years old is hardly an appealing option. So there aren't a lot of great choices for Winnipeg, but one of them will have to be done, and at a large cost.

If Winnipeg does nothing and stays in the 15k MTS centre they will have to have the most expensive ticket prices in the NHL by far. In a city without that kind of corporate money it is a recipe for disaster.

I've heard people object to this line of thinking by stating that there are American NHL teams surviving with less than 15,000 fans per game. This is a very weak argument. Define "surviving." If by "surviving" you mean "struggling" then you're on the right track. While most American markets are doing just fine, there are a handful that are playing to arenas that have a quarter or more of their seats empty. I don't think that Columbus, Phoenix or Long Island are the kinds of situations that Winnipeg wants to emulate, do you? What everybody but Gary Bettman seems to know is that there are too many NHL teams and some of them are destined to die. Contraction is inevitable in the NHL, and that's a good thing. There are only so many viable markets for NHL hockey, and almost all of them already have NHL franchises.

So let's hope that after the first few novelty seasons that the good people of Winnipeg are still willing to shell out mucho dinero for NHL hockey. They'll have to. May as well add Winnipeg to the list of cities looking for taxpayers cash to build an arena.

But that's just the way I see it.

Gaming Media Needs to Come Clean (or LA Noire Is A Mess)

2011-05-24T09:56:00.000-06:00

I am fully convinced that advertising plays a huge role in how video games get reviewed by the gaming media. 8s and 9s get given out as standard. It's been said that a sub-8 rating for a game is its death-kiss. If this is how the gaming media operates, then it's time for some new operators. We need gaming media that are not afraid to give out a 7 to a game that is pretty good, but not great.

The latest game to get heaps of praise and not enough scrutiny is LA Noire. This game is a mess, pure and simple. It may be a beautiful, interesting mess, but it is a mess nonetheless.

No matter how well you play the game, you will still progress. LA Noire is an open world-adventure hybrid game based on investigations and interrogations with some action thrown in for good measure. While the recreated Los Angeles from 1947 is fascinating to drive around and experience, the game's structure and mechanics are seriously flawed. First of all, if you're going to make a game that pays tribute to film noire and the literature that inspired it, then perhaps giving gamers a goodie-goodie main character to play as isn't the right or most interesting choice. I can't imagine an interesting film noire starring Cole Phelps. Bogart or Cagney would never have played that character.

Essentially the game forces you through a very linear process of investigating crime scenes and then asking questions of suspects and witnesses. The investigation portion has you walking around scenes and stopping when your control pad rumbles (finding the right spot to stop is annoying sometimes). You then pick up some object which half time time is useless. The other things you look at are added as clues in your notebook for you to reference when you question people. It is a process that becomes boring very quickly. The interrogation process is so badly flawed that it just becomes frustrating. Based on the facial expressions of the people you are interrogating you choose between selecting either that you think they are telling the truth, that you doubt their statement, or that you flat out think that they are lying. The problem is that most of the actors who play the characters don't really have a giveaway. Their expressions are often the same for all three. So you basically have to guess whenever it's not obvious that they are lying based on the evidence that you have. In the end it doesn't matter anyway because you will still progress through the game even if you mess up completely.

It would have been great for the game to give you more of a free roam ability as well. The game's structure always has you on a case, which means that no matter where you go or what you do your partner is always with you. That isn't a great formula for exploration. Considering that there are things to find on the gigantic map, I can't figure out why they wouldn't have gone with more of a GTA-stye structure where you are free to explore and can pick up missions when you choose at specific locations. The whole structure just doesn't work very well. You pick up side missions while you are on a case, as well. That means that as you're driving in the car you can choose to respond to a crime that is reported on the police radio. Often that means going in the exact opposite direction from where the case would have you go just to play through a short, pointless action sequence.

The motion capture technology is really excellent, and the map is a wonder to drive through. The radio station that occasionally plays in your car (sometimes it's on, sometimes it isn't and you don't control that) is fascinating to listen to. But so many aspects of the game fall short of excellence that I simply cannot understand why this game hasn't been scrutinized more by the gaming media. LA Noire is a 7 at best. They seem to hand out 8s and 9s to big blockbuster games without really playing through them.

There's no way that advertising doesn't play a role in this. There are some game magazines and websites that I enjoy reading, but I no longer trust their reviews. Previews, sure. Reviews...not a chance anymore. Not for any of them. 8's should be reserved for games that have solid structure, mechanics and intangibles. 9's and above should be reserved for games with hardly any flaws at all.

But that's just the way I see it.

Let The Poser Watching Begin!

2011-05-18T10:52:00.004-06:00

This week is a short week for me. So, this Thriday my partners in crime and I (you know who you are) will be off to find a patio somewhere, have a beer, and watch the posers. Such fun.

You may not even realize it, but you too may be a poser. Some people pull it off really well. Some are blatant and have no chance in the game. Here's a guide to poser watching for the warm season, 2011.

Aggressive Alpha-Male Guy
This joker is always fun to watch, but not too fun to actually be around. Keep a safe distance from this chest-puffing, unbuttoned shirt wearing, barbed wire fence tattooed gorilla. The funny thing is watching the dumb shallow girls actually get interested.

College Preppy Guy
This collar-poppin', over-gelled, cologne soaked turd is a distant relation of alpha-male guy. They have many of the same silly behaviours that can be really entertaining. Watching him go from sweet talking some girl to calling her a bitch because she's not buying his cheezy lines is always good for a laugh.

Ultra Short Skirt Girl
Check out those 6 inch heels. Busted! And you're the perv for looking. Do I need to say a lot about this girl? We all see her in her overconfident glory. She's only interested in guys who have a lot of money and muscles to match. Her strutting is the most entertaining bit.

Hipster Guy/Girl
How many colours can one person put in one hair style? How many piercings can they fit on an eyebrow? How square can my glasses be? (thanks, Franco!) They all look the same, but intend to look like individuals. If you can sit close enough you can overhear the snooty proletariat-bashing. Not liking rich people makes them smart, dontcha know? The smashing on anything popular goes hand in hand with the requisite blabbering about left-wing causes.

So many other kinds of posers. Always good for a riot for the rest of us. It's good to be a married guy. Watching the smoothies pretend like they're not interested and then having the girls chase them is my favourite moment.

Can't wait for that beer!

But that's just the way I see it.

Netflix May be $8, but It's Only Worth 50 Cents

2011-05-18T10:26:00.000-06:00

Netflix sucks. There. I said it.

I've lost count of how many movies that I've looked up only to get a "not available" message next to the box art of the movie. If you want a limited selection of second rate films, then Netflix is for you. But they need to be forced to change their advertising.

Netflix is advertised as a service that allows you to watch as much as you want for $8 a month. What they don't tell you is that you'll get no access to anything that has been released in the last 4 years, and beyond that it's a crap shoot.

Want to watch anything that was nominated at the Oscars this year? Forget it. How about anything from last year's Oscars? Nope. The year before? Nada. How about any of the summer or winter blockbusters from the last few years? Sorry. Not available.

So, sure, you can watch as much as you want for $8, but only from a slim selection of shitty crap. Okay...that's not fair. Mostly shitty crap.

$8 a month? Make it 50 cents and I'll re-join. Until then, forget it.

But that's just the way I see it.

How To Be A Good Spouse, Part I

2011-05-10T14:38:00.000-06:00

My wife is the best wife in the world. That works great because I am actually the best husband on the planet. I don't mind admitting that we're the best. If I denied it, I'd just be a filthy liar. We share chores and support each other's interests. We fight and then make up. If I ask my wife to rub my feet she does it. And she knows that if she asks me to rub her feet that I will do it also. You know what that's called? It's called love.

Remember that Bible verse that everybody and their dog (including me) had read at their wedding? Well here's a better and updated version:

Love is holding her hair while she throws up when she has the flu. Love isn't glamorous or found in a bed time story. Love is still wanting to have sex with someone who you've seen at their worst and cleaned up after. Love isn't complaining because you have to help. Love is embracing all the little undignified things that are your duty as a spouse. Love isn't one side does all. Love is a shared existence that survives the day to day life that wouldn't make an interesting movie or TV show. Love isn't scoffing at something he enjoys just because you don't care about it. Love is hoping she has a great time even if you're not there. Love is agreeing to watch that movie she wants to see even though you know damn well that you're going to hate it. Love is knowing when she's going to really, really, really hate that movie you want to see and not making them sit through it. Love isn't teenage infatuation.

Why do people paint themselves into a corner? Like those people who have kids and then complain about them at any and every opportunity and have the gall to tell you "but it's different when they're yours" when you state how relieved you are that you don't. Do they think that they are fooling anybody? Some people were meant to have children and end up happy. Others clearly were not and it shows. Which are you? Have you given that any real thought? Or are you going to just do it because that's what people are supposed to do?

How about the people who scoff at the things that their spouses are interested in in front of others. "He likes that crap, how stupid!" Well why did you marry the guy then? If you don't dig what your spouse is into, that's fine. If you don't respect her interests then either you married the wrong person or you're a stuck up sourpuss. Of course if your spouse is into drugs or sex with other people then you really married the wrong person, didn't you? But berating your wife or husband because they like sports, certain TV shows, video games or stamp collecting only means that you are a miserable person.

How many married people do I have to come across that act like their spouse is infected with the plague? These people are playing with fire, I'm telling you for a fact. Are you that girl that likes to brag about how your husband doesn't get any? You are playing with fire. Just keep holding out and see what happens. Of course you'll blame him when he caves in the end to the temptation, right? Is your average for intimacy a "per month" thing rather than a "per week" thing? Or worse, a "per fiscal quarter" thing? You are playing with fire. Don't just be a roommate and blame your career or your kids.

Don't live your life in misery. Marry the right person and then back them to the hilt or admit that you're not going to be a good spouse to anybody. Don't have kids because that's what they want even though you don't. Don't treat your spouse like an annoyance. Love them.

Can't deal with that? Don't get married.

But that's just the way I see it.

PSN Hackers Deserve Your Anger, Not Sony

2011-05-08T09:05:00.000-06:00

When somebody feels that they have been treated unjustly they tend to want to take action in their own defense. The evaluation of that alleged injustice and the form in which the defensive action takes will tell you a lot about the content of the character of the person or people involved. So this then leads me to the following fact of life:

Having Linux on your Playstation 3 is not a right. Messing with Sony's code isn't a right either. In fact, it's illegal. So if Sony removes your ability to install Linux on your PS3 you have not been treated unjustly. And if Sony sues you for hacking their device then you haven't been treated unjustly either. So if your response to those perceived injustices is to hack the Playstation Network and steal not only Sony's data, but the data and information of more than 70 million gamers, then what does that say about you? And why, exactly, should I be punished because you're having a hissy fit over something ridiculous?

In March of this year Sony, for security reasons, removed the option to run Linux or another such operating system on your PS3. A hacker named George Hotz then hacked the PS3 and posted the process on how to do so on the internet. Of course his purpose was to allow people to continue to have Linux on their PS3's. The other affect, of course, would be for people to be able to use pirated software on their PS3s. Sony, quite rightly, sued Mr. Hotz. In retaliation for that horrid and inhumane injustice, a hacker group calling itself "Anonymous" began a series of cyber-attacks on Sony websites. Sony settled it's lawsuit with Hotz and the information he posted was taken off of the internet.

Then, in a terrorist-style message posted online, Anonymous threatened Sony with a massive attack. They posted that message on April 13th. On April 16th the PSN was hacked and the personal information of over 70 million users was stolen. Anonymous claims innocence. Sure.

So here we have 70 million gamers punished so that a hacker group can send a message to Sony. That message: "It's our right to have Linux on our PS3s". If that sounds petty and ridiculous to you, it's because it is. And what kind of people commit such a massively illegal act over such a perceived injustice? Emotionally challenged? Morally bankrupt? The maturity of a two year-old? That all sounds about right.

Sony isn't blameless in all of this. After all, nobody should have been able to hack the PSN like that. Clearly Sony's security was out of date. But I can't help but accept Sony's apology to me, made last Sunday. I canceled my credit card and changed my passwords. They will no doubt give me some compensation for that. So I will move on and continue to buy Sony's products. But nobody should be bamboozled into thinking that what this hacker group did was right or just. And know full well what kinds of people they are. Some, I am sure, will serve jail time. They had better, because that is what they deserve.

But that's just the way I see it.

Rules To Follow For The Warm Season

2011-05-07T18:45:00.000-06:00

After what has been the longest and worst winter in my lifetime, the warm season is now upon us. From now until the end of August we can live relatively snow and cold-free. Aside from the expensive activity of skiing, I could have it this way all year round. But there are some downsides to the warm season. Mosquitoes, ants, spiders and other creepy crawleys come out to play. But even worse are the human faux pas that are committed with horrendous regularity by too many ignoramuses. Here is a short list of things to do and not do during the warm season:

Do: Cut your toenails! For the love of all things good, cut your damned toenails. If you go out wearing open toed shoes or are barefoot and have gnarly or long toenails you should be beaten to death with your own left arm.

Don't: Go topless! Men, unless you are at the beach or at a pool, don't walk around with your shirt off. Nothing says "I'm a supreme douchebag" like going shirtless. Ladies, you already know not to do this.

Do: Wear sunglasses!

Don't: Wear sunglesses indoors. Only rockstars and slimeballs do that. So, unless you're a rockstar....

Do: Have a patio party!

Don't: Keep your neighbors up with your patio partying until 3am! At a certain time it's time to move it indoors. I will call the cops. I HAVE called the cops. Yup...that was me.

Do: Drive with the window down!

Don't: Drive with the window down and your awful urban dance music pumping so I can hear it in my house. If it's that loud, you are a jackass. I hope you go deaf.

Do: Have a cat or a dog! I love cats and dogs!

Don't: Leave your dog out all night barking or let your cat wander the community pooping in every garden. Show some class for crying out loud!

Do: Sit on a patio and drink some beer. Mmmm....beer!

Don't: Drink and drive!

Have a great summer!

But that's just the way I see it!

Mr. Harper, You'd Better Make Good

2011-05-02T22:43:00.000-06:00

What's that old Diefenbaker saying? Polls are for dogs? Well, every polling firm in the country got it wrong. I got it wrong. Everybody got it wrong. Stephen Harper will be Prime Minister of a majority government for the next four years.

40% of Canadians voted Conservative. Now we get to see what that means for Canada. The political landscape has been changed in a number of ways that absolutely cannot be glossed over. But let's first focus on the Conservatives, since they get to govern with a majority, and 100+ NDP seats won't change that.

Canada is showing that it is a centrist country. Oddly, the most moderate party running in the election was the Conservative Party. But their platform was based on a budget that was brought forward in a minority Parliament. Going forward, the Conservatives need to secure the centre to keep Canada on their side. To do that they have to return Canada to balanced budgets while maintaining programs that Canadians have come to expect. They also need to ensure that socially they avoid socially conservative issues like abortion and gay marriage. If four years from now the economy is doing well and finances are doing well, then the Conservatives will do well. If they move hard to the right they will be decimated next time around. But for now, let's remember the old Manning slogan, "The West Wants In". Well, the west is in!

The NDP elected more than 100 MPs tonight, in large part due to Quebec. Thanks to events during this campaign, Quebecers learned that they couldn't just vote for a party whose interest was solely Quebec while not embracing sovereignty. Quebec is a very progressive and left-wing Province, so the natural alternative was the NDP. Jack Layton won that victory for them. Now they have a caucus full of Quebec MPs who need to be pleased. This will be interesting going forward. You have to hand it to Jack Layton.

The Liberals have been reduced to third party status for the first time ever. Canada's "natural governing party" has been seriously weakened, but are not destroyed. They still are a national party. They still will have party status. This is not 1993 for the PC Party. Ignatieff has decided to give up the leadership and the Liberals will be able to start building right away. Don't write them off. Don't assume that they will want to merge with the NDP either. Not going to happen. But they have some soul searching to do.

Canada is politically different in some significant ways tonight. The BQ have been decimated. No more funding, no more support, no more party status. While this doesn't mean that sovereignty is dead, it does mean that Quebec is up for grabs in four years. Federalist parties can now compete openly in Quebec. This is very healthy for Canada, and is an important milestone.

Secondly, the governing party has MPs in every region of the country. This election was a uniting election. Considering that this was an uninspiring campaign, the result is incredibly satisfying for those of us who love Canada.

Canada's Parliament will look quite different. The NDP is the official opposition for the first time ever. The Liberals have been rejected and will now have to realize that the problem was with them, not with Canadians. In spite of losing half of their support and getting less than 4% of the vote, Green leader Elizabeth May will be an MP. Incredible! The consequences are not to be underestimated. Green will be in the debates next time around and will receive federal funding, at least until the Conservatives get rid of the taxpayer subsidy. May will get more media coverage and will get to ask questions in the House on occasion. The Conservatives will be forced to actually have an environmental policy. Or else.

I love Canada's system. Even when you lose, you can still win. Congratulations to Stephen Harper. Be sure to phone Preston and thank him for making this possible for you through the United Alternative.

Canada: best country on Earth.

But that's just the way I see it.

Good Riddance: Bin Laden Hid In Plain Sight

2011-05-02T08:59:00.001-06:00

Perhaps it's time for the US to re-assess who its friends are. Osama Bin Laden hid in an affluent area outside of Islamabad, Pakistan in a compound built 5 years ago to house him. Are we to believe that the Pakistani government didn't know where he was? Sure.

The long-overdue death of the world's most evil terrorist is something to celebrate. I hope it was painful. But it ought have happened long ago. If anybody in the USA believes that Pakistan is a state allied with them they are fooling themselves. It would be like Bin Laden hiding in Chelsea and the Brits not knowing about it. If you believe that I've got a bridge to sell you.

The USA needs to re-assess what qualifies a country as an ally. I'd suggest that harbouring the mastermind of 9/11 doesn't qualify you as a friend.

In the meantime, I plan on having a drink to celebrate Bin Laden's death. It's days like this that I wish I believed in heaven and hell, because Bin Laden would be in the latter for sure. No virgins where he's going. Hope likes it hot.

And for those of you who are starting up the conspiracy theory baloney because of the quick burial at sea, your evidence with no doubt be forthcoming. But you won't believe it anyway. Burying him at sea means that there is no memorial to him. Doing it quickly satisfies Islamic tradition. Bases are covered. They got it right, so shut your conspiracy spouting pie hole. Enjoy the victory for the good guys. Yes, the USA are the good guys.

But that's just the way I see it.

Jack Layton Got A Massage

2011-05-01T10:38:00.000-06:00

Who cares? This happened 15 years ago! We should look at the kinds of policies that politicians want to implement if they are elected, not at what happened in their personal lives 15 years ago. Everybody has some skeletons in the closet, even you. I'm sure Jack Layton is no different. Besides the entire account of the story is that Layton did nothing wrong and was advised by police that the clinic he was at was not entirely legit.

So a lame campaign ends on a sleazy note thanks to Fox News Canada (aka Sun Media). And will this affect Jack Layton and the NDP? Not one bit. Sun media has lost any credibility it might have had, and whoever fed them the story (either the Liberals or Conservatives) will eventually get outed and then get creamed in the media.

So sad.

But that's just the way I see it.

It's Time For Some Answers From Sony

2011-04-26T13:49:00.001-06:00

Here we are in day 7 of the Playstation Network Outage. I can handle 7 days without online gaming. What I can't handle is the lack of explanation from Sony.

Those of us who spent the cash to buy a console deserve to have that console and its features available to us. I hate the feeling of being misled or ripped off. Right now I feel both, and Sony is to blame. I have questions and I bloody well want answers.

First of all, was my personal information stolen by a hacker? Do I need to cancel my credit card? If so, TELL ME! I deserve to know one way or another. For Sony to say that they don't know yet 7 days after the fact is unacceptable. In the end I may have to cancel my cards and notify places I have monthly charges that hit that card. Pain in the ass. Thanks Sony.

Second, what the hell happened? An external intrusion? You don't say! I think we can all figure out that PSN was hacked. But Sony refusing to properly communicate with its customers reeks of incompetence and arrogance. Who do they think they are, anyway? Microsoft? Hey, at least Microsoft admitted that the 360 is broken and extended the warranty on their faulty consoles. What's Sony doing?

The silence continues. I am loyal customer, but my loyalty is not limitless. It is being seriously tested. I can't be the only one who feels this way.

But that's just the way I see it.

UPDATE: Sony has confirmed that personal info such as names, address, email have been compromised. Billing info as well. They will not rule out that credit cards have been compromised. Did I cancel my card? You bet I did!

Why Can't "Green" Politicians Tell The Truth?

2011-04-19T08:57:00.000-06:00

Listening to Elizabeth May is like...well..listening to a corrupt southern televangelist preacher. Part fire and vitriol, part steaming BS. According to her we can transform an economy that relies upon fossil fuels into a green economy and not lose jobs. My answer to that: baloney!

The illusion is that only Alberta relies on the fossil fuel industry for economic prosperity. Not true. The entire country benefits from the oil sands. Furthermore, Atlantic Canada is now becoming more reliant upon oil and not reliant at all upon the rest of Canada. Our country's economy is dependant on oil and gas. That's the reality.

So how does an internal "cap and trade" system help Canada? It doesn't. All cap and trade does is redistribute wealth. It doesn't stop people from polluting. It doesn't stop companies from polluting. It just makes regions that produce oil and gas pay regions that do not. It's a fairy tale from la-la land that this nonsense will have anything but a minuscule effect on our CO2 emissions.

So what about a carbon tax? Elizabeth May would rather have that than a cap and trade system. Of course she would, it is the perfect tool to channel her obvious vitriol towards the oil and gas industry and the hardworking families that it supports. She actually had the audacity to state that Canada's economy would benefit from a carbon tax! Ms. May, quit lying...please. We all know that's not true.

Look, if we're serious about reducing our CO2 emissions to levels that are lower than 20 years ago, then the method which we do that matters. But even more important is the truth. The regulation that will be required to reduce our CO2 emissions from industry will cost jobs. It will hurt our economy. We may end up with low emissions, but we'll have low employment as well. And we'll be cold, since we won't be able to heat our homes, or power our lifestyles. Our entire way of life is reliant on fossil fuels. That's a fact. So getting our emissions down to a level where we can crow self-righteously to the rest of the planet (who are doing absolutely nothing about global warming) will destroy our economy unless we do it slowly and methodically, changing lifestyles and attitudes along the way.

The only way to do it without killing our economy is phased in regulation combined with incentives for individuals and corporations. What kind of regulation? How about "you can't emit more than this by this date" kind of regulation. The punishment isn't just a fine. It's "Mr. CEO, you're going to jail". It's "you can't drive a vehicle that isn't this fuel efficient after this date" kind of regulation. The penalty isn't a fine. It's jail time and a criminal record.

The proof is out there. You can't rely upon science, scare tactics or good will to convince people to get green. You have to make 'em! If not, they'll just keep on going on as they are. And in the end will people like Michael Ignatieff, Elizabeth May, David Suzuki, Jack Layton or any other green fear monger tell you the hard truth about what will happen even if we do get our emissions down? Will they tell you that it won't make one jot of difference? Nope, they won't say that, because they just aren't honest. The reality is that if global warming is real and humans are causing it there is NO stopping it. Not unless the entire planet reduces their emissions regardless of the stage of progress of economy. Developing countries in Africa? China? Russia? India? USA? ALL of them have to reduce emissions and develop green economies in order to stop it. And if the fear mongers are to be believed we have very little time in which to do it.

So there is our dilemma. We can do one of the following three things: a) slowly transform our economy by phasing in real regulation and incentives; b) enact harsh regulation now thereby reducing emissions and jobs at the same time; c) prepare for the inevitable consequences of global warming.

Oh, there is a fourth option. Enact BS policy a-la NDP, Liberal or Green Party and watch jobs die with a small effect on emissions. But at least we get to feel good about ourselves.

But that's just the way I see it.

Where Are My PS2 Classics On PSN?

2011-04-15T14:56:00.000-06:00

Dear Sony,

Quit dropping the ball!

Sincerely,

Gamers Everywhere

Seriously, when Sony was doing it's advance promotion for the PS3, they told the gaming media that they wanted people to want to work more hours so that they could buy the Playstation 3. This ill-advised statement reflected the entire launch of the Playstation 3. Launching at a ridiculous $500 price point (there was also a $600 version, the only one with an HDMI port at the time) in November 2006, the PS3 had a business model that relied upon winning the Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD war. Well, Blu-Ray definitely won that war because of the PS3, but within a year Sony had abandoned backwards computability with the Playstation 2, a system with a massive library of incredible games. They did this because they wanted people to focus on buying PS3 games. And to this day we still don't have access to PS2 games on our PS3s.

Microsoft made sure to capitalize on its Xbox 360 install base by giving 360 owners the ability to purchase classic Xbox Games and play them on their 360. The 360 is also backwards compatible with the Xbox. So if you are a fan of a classic game like Halo or Jade Empire then you can download it and play it on your 360 or just put the Xbox disc in your 360 rather than having to roll out your old console and hook it up.

Why the hell hasn't Sony done this with PS2 games?

The list of PS2 exclusive games that would make great $10 or $15 purchases on the PSN is huge. The Ratchet and Clank and Final Fantasy games are great examples. The list of multiplatform games is even bigger. I can download GTA San Andreas and play it in 720p on my 360 but I can't on my PS3. Inexplicably, Sony has a huge backlog of PS1 games available on the PSN that can be played on PS3 or PSP, but nothing from the PS2 days. All we get are "collections" like God of War and Sly Cooper. But what if I want to dust off my old copy of SSX Tricky or Twisted Metal Black? Looks like I have to dig out my PS2 and hook it up.

The PS3 hit 50 million units sold over the last week. I think Sony can stop worrying about the PS2 limiting PS3 sales now. It's time for PS2 to hit PSN.

But that's just the way I see it.

6 Minor Annoyances That Don't Really Affect My Life

2011-04-01T10:23:00.000-06:00

For those of you that regularly read the garbage that I spout off on this blog, I have a special treat for you. I often complain about things that affect my life in a negative way. Things like bad drivers, or that nauseas feeling I get when I see someone wearing open toed shoes without having acquired good personal grooming habits. But this time I'll whine about some things that really don't affect our lives at all, yet kind of bug me.

1) The "Fade Out"
What? Can't figure out how to end a song properly? You have to just keep repeating the song's chorus over and over and over until it fades out. Weak. Figure out how to end a song!

2) Creased Jeans
No...just...no! Creases are for dress pants and dockers. Do NOT put a crease in your jeans. EVER!

3) People Who Don't Like The Beatles
These people actually exist! There's no logical explanation for it, but they do.

4) Starbucks Lingo
Grande is big, not small. It's big in English, French, Spanish, and Italian. Yet these jokers make a small coffee and call it "grande".

5) "Irregardless"
This is not a real word or saying. Neither is Artic, Expresso or "for all intensive purposes".

6) Outdated Spelling in English
Why does "knife" have a K? Knee? Why does "night" have a GH in it? The examples are endless. Our language is not phonetically correct. It is silly.

There you have it. Have a swell day!

But that's just the way I see it.

What Is Conservative Anyway?

2011-03-28T09:58:00.001-06:00

Remember when "Conservative" meant smaller government, lower taxes, anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, and larger military? Yeah, seems like only yesterday. The Conservatism of the 1990's and 2000's has given way to the Conservatism of the 1980's, at least in Canada.

In Canada, the definition of Conservative really depends on whether that Conservative is in opposition or in government. In government, Canadian conservatives tend to behave like, well, liberals. In the United States, conservatives also tend to be more liberal when in power, but the political centre is much further to the right there than in Canada. There are a few things that have changed in Canada that have yet to come to pass in the USA...but will.

In the 1990's and 2000's conservatives could get away with being anti-gay marriage and anti-abortion and call those stances "principled" or "family values". Now they are widely considered to be suicidal politically. So toxic are these stances that Canada's current Conservative Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, is likely to avoid all mention of them on the campaign trail. Liberals used to be able to use these issues as wedge issues and no longer can. Conservatives in Canada are so scared to talk about the old "family values" issues that the entire scope of conservatism has been altered forever.

Conservative, when in power, means keeping taxes low, and putting criminals behind bars regardless of the cost. On other issues, there seems to be very little difference between conservatives and liberals. Conservatives spend like they are liberals when in power. Conservatives interfere in the economy when they are in power. No laissez-faire economics in sight. Not a mention of abortion or gay-marriage. That train left the station and is never to return.

When it comes to foreign relations things have changed as well. Even Stephen Harper admitted during the last election that going to Iraq would have been a mistake. Being pro-Israel is fairly common among both liberals and conservatives. It is only people on the far left that still have a hate-on for Israel. Most have realized that even if creating Israel back in the 1940's was a less-than-smart thing to do, that it's done, and unless you're going to eliminate that country now that the starting point for peace is a recognition of Israel's right to exist. So regardless of Israeli over-reactions to attacks, that it is the attacks in the first place that keep peace from happening. Even prominent Democrats in the US use this as a starting point.

Out in Alberta, the new conservative movement is called the Wildrose Alliance. These conservatives display "opposition conservatism". In other words, everything is about balanced budgets even if that hurts services and the economy. In this world, our universal healthcare system is the enemy and to be fought. Of course, once in power, it's just another problem to be fixed.

It's amazing how once in power people like to stay there. That always means running to the political centre as quickly as possible. In Canada, it is the most sensible and rational thing to do as well. Canada, however civilized, is not a united country. It is fractionalized and divided. Canada's civility allows for differences to be fought politically instead of in the streets with guns and bombs. That's something to be proud of. Other countries with our differences would be at civil war. Governing from the centre allows for a broader appeal in a divided land. And that's why parties are always more extreme in opposition.

So the Conservatism of the 1980's is back in Canada. The kind of Conservatism that leaves very little to differentiate itself from liberalism except the colour of the lawn sign. It is the competency issue that makes the difference. Too bad the United States hasn't followed suit yet. Reagan style conservatism would be a welcome change in America.

In Canada, as usual, we're ahead of the game.

But that's just the way I see it.

I'll See You....On The Battlefield!

2011-03-26T09:49:00.000-06:00

No, I don't mean that I'm running off to join the army. I'm referring to my current addiction to a certain video game. It's funny how video game addiction can work. I've seen it take on all-life-consuming forms that result in support groups and divorces, to passing fancies that run a few weeks and then fade away. While I've never had the video game rehab kind of addiction to a game, I have put some silly hour counts into games in the Battlefield series.

I think my favourite all time game series has to be Grand Theft Auto. I've explained in previous posts why that is, but the long and short is that I love the humour, satire and design. I've played through GTA San Andreas three or four times, hitting the 80 hour mark on one playthrough. Any time you hit those kinds of hours in a video game you've gotten your money's worth. With that in mind, the Battlefield series has been a real bargain for me.

I recently looked up my stats for the games in the series that I have played that keep online stats: Battlefield 2 (2005), Battlefield 2142 (2006), Battlefield Bad Company (2008), Battlefield Bad Company 2 and its Vietnam expansion (2010). Here are the results:

Battlefield 2: 294 hours, 36 minutes
Battlefield 2142: 93 hours, 45 minutes
Battlefield Bad Company: 38 hours, 9 minutes
Battlefield BC2/Vietnam: 151 hours, 24 minutes

At 150 hours and counting, I'm pretty happy with the $60 I spent on the game (+$15 for the expansion). How many times have I dropped that amount only to sink 10 hours into a half baked single player campaign (Infamous...cough cough)? Too many to count.

And Battlefield is so much damn fun. Especially when you're playing online with friends, in a squad, with the headsets. Battefield also attracts a more mature gamer than the Call of Duty or Halo series do. I don't get 5 year-olds calling me racial slurs on the Battlefield. That matters.

But this fall Battlefield 3 comes out, and for the first time in several years I'll switch my Battlefield experience back to my PC, which may need an upgrade. I can hardly wait. I know that silly hours counts are to come, and I must ensure that I spend adequate time with my wife prior to hitting the Battlefield.

Amazingly enough, I'm still married! Now where the hell is my next Grand Theft Auto game???

But that's just the way I see it.