Ah, mad-lib titles.

I spotted some links to Pirate themed bathroom accessories on BoingBoing and followed them. The bathroom stuff was pretty ho-hum (not yo-ho-hum, just ho-hum.) Each of the links were just parts of larger pirate themed stores. Billy Bones’ Locker has some neat stuff (check out the hats) meanwhile, CDockPirates has an entirely different set of neat stuff (check out some of the costume stuff.)

I knew some of you would be interested, so I thought I’d post the links.

Simpson’s quote of the day:
Bart: “Dad, you’re giving in to mob mentality.”
Homer: “No I’m not, I’m hopping on the bandwagon!”

Have you ever noticed that people in North America don’t enunciate their t’s all the time? Maybe it’s just me, but when I hear the words “better” or “latter” or “router” the “t” sound is transformed to a “d” sound. I guess that’s one of those things that’s probably more localized than I think - I’m sure there are lots of places where people enunciate their t’s in all instances. It does kind of get me wondering though - when did that happen? I’m pretty sure that English speakers from other parts of the world (you know, the ones with the English accent?) enunciate their t’s a lot more than we do. That’s not to say that either one is correct, just that as a Canadian, I’ve kind of sanded the corners off of my language somewhat.

So, now that I’ve gotten that off my chest…The weekend was good. Erin’s grandparent’s came into town for the Tai Chi opening thing (as mentioned last week) It was good to see them, though only for brief periods. Saturday afternoon, while I had the house to myself, I played some online poker (free - not for money, I’m not a masochist.) It was kind of fun, even though everyone just raises their fake money regardless of how good their hand is. I played at Ultimate Bet. After I was done that, I headed across town to go skating with Jason, Amy and Mya. We didn’t stay out too long, but it was good to get out on the ice. It’s been far too long since I last strapped the blades on. I wonder if that’s somewhat responsible for Jason being home from work with his back acting up.

Oh, and I can’t shoot left handed. Thought I’d throw that out there. I don’t have much of a right handed shot either, but at least I don’t fall over in the attempt.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Run along peewee. Baby gets nothing.” - Mr. Burns

I was thinking about the nature of “in” jokes yesterday, after a Green Firefly drove by that needed a fanbelt. As I watched it slowly drive by, I thought to myself “Green Firefly needs fanbelt badly.” I laughed to myself, even though nobody else (in their right mind) would have found it funny. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t funny, it was just the logical extension of the “in” joke. The joke that only the teller finds funny.

There are probably lots of you out there that understand the reference to a particular family of video games, and they are probably thinking to themselves “Yeah, but I get the reference, and it still isn’t funny.” The thing is this - it doesn’t matter to me what you think is funny.

There was a time when I used to think that some forms of humour were without merit. While I still don’t find jokes about bodily functions very funny, I at least can appreciate that some people find them uproariously funny. And good for them, because the more time people spend laughing, the less time they spend killing people (or other anti-social type behaviours.)

So, the next time you see something that fits the pattern of the title of this post, have a little laugh for me.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “I said ha, ha.” - Nelson

I finally figured out how to watch a DVD with commentary turned on last night. Wait - that sounds bad. I always knew how to do it, it’s just that I found it annoying and pointless. Anyway, the secret is that you don’t actually watch it. You have it on in the background, while doing something else, like say, washing dishes. Then if they say something that requires you to look at the screen, you can. Otherwise, treat it like a radio broadcast.

I can’t watch commentary tracks usually, because it’s to frustrating not being able to hear the actual audio from whatever show the commentary is on. When they say something like “I love this line - this is my favorite line of the whole movie” and you have to be able to read lips to figure out what the line was, that’s frustrating.

I actually played a little bit of Smuggler’s Run last night, which I hadn’t played in a long time. It can certainly get frustrating, but it’s a neat game anyway.

We’re having Erin’s grandparent’s stay with us this weekend, because there is a Grand Opening for the new Taoist Tai Chi center in town, and they’re going to attend it. It’ll be good to see them, and good for them to see William. He’s grown so much since they’ve seen him, and he changes so fast, it’s not even funny. Until you actually see him wandering around with a toy in each hand, talking away (nonsense words still) it’s hard to believe that this is the same boy that we took home from the hospital a little over 11 months ago.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Shh! Some people are trying to watch the movie.” - Hans Moleman

Back to the weather. It kind of dominates most Winter discussions in Saskatoon, so I guess it’s not that surprising. Actually, there’s a fair amount of CFL talk at coffee breaks too… Anyway, it’s warmer here now, in the range of -10 to -20 over the next four days, which is a welcome relief. I have to wait for the bus in the morning, so I feel the weather as much as most people do. That -45 stuff was just nasty, and I won’t mind not seeing it for another year.

CBS sent me a cease and desist letter over yesterday’s post, but I’m leaving it up anyway. I must have hit too close to the truth (just a joke - no C&D ever arrived in my inbox)

Simpson’s quote of the day: “You there, fill it up with petroleum distillate, and re-vulcanize my tires, post haste. And none of your usual boobery!” - Mr. Burns

I’ve been known to enjoy the occasional conspiracy theory. I’m not big into the whole “Who shot JFK” bit, and most conspiracy theories that I hear about are lacking in imagination, as well as entertainment. So, I submit for your approval: The real reason behind the Superbowl Halftime Show Nudity

I watched the halftime show. Well, watched is probably a bit of a strong word, because what really happened was that the halftime show was on in the background while people were talking and eating. Anyway, to make a long story short, I happened to be watching the TV when Justin Timberlake ripped off half of Janet Jackson’s top, leaving her *ahem* exposed. My brother and I looked at each other with the “Did I just see what I think I just saw?” expression on our faces. I figured if we saw what we thought we saw, it would be all over the internet within minutes.

So, having seen it live (on TV), I feel qualified to comment on it. I think it was deliberate. I think lots of people knew about it in advance, even some of the very same people who have publicly stated that they are “shocked and disappointed” with the event.

Why would they do such a thing deliberately? Well, as with all things, it boils down to money. CBS, who aired the superbowl, is one of the leading HDTV supporters in the US. I’m pretty sure they air more of their content in HDTV in more markets than all of their competitors. The Superbowl is a flagship of the HDTV world. They knew that lots of people would be watching with their HDTV’s and they knew that some of them would be able to screen capture such an “accident” so as to post it all over the internet. I’m not going to post a link to any of those places, because I don’t want to help them out.

That still doesn’t explain why they did it. Until you realize that HDTV isn’t very widespread in the US yet. CBS wants people to adopt HDTV much faster than they have, because in a couple of years, their advantages will be completely nullified. If everyone had an HDTV capable TV now, they’d be watching HDTV on CBS, and not SDTV on NBC or ABC - or so the thinking goes. “The medium is the message” so to speak. Who cares if it’s good TV, as long as it’s HDTV. What better way to drive more people to buy HDTVs than by showing them graphical proof of how much better the picture quality is.

Five years ago, the internet would be flooded with blurry pictures of what is supposedly Janet Jackson’s boob. Today, it’s flooded with pictures that are high resolution enough to tell what she had for breakfast (I don’t know what that means.) The difference is obvious. No amount of beautiful nature loops at the local futureshop will sell HDTVs as quickly as a single famous boob.

Don’t believe me? I bet more HDTVs are being sold today than were sold one year ago. Unfortunately I am kept from accessing this information by a secret cabal intent on controlling the universe via mind control waves hidden in HDTV signals. When that has been accomplished, we’ll all be eating Soylent Green, and we’ll like it.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Nuts to that. I’m going to the movies.” Homer

I find myself using the phrase “Strangely compelling” a lot lately. Today, it’s in reference to the World Poker Championships that NBC showed yesterday during the Superbowl pregame. As we were getting ready to go to my brother’s future in-laws’ place for the big game itself, I had the poker championships on. Had you told me that I’d be riveted, I’d have called you a liar. Turns out I’d have been wrong. I really enjoyed it. I guess it’s the popular thing in the states now, for whatever reason. I didn’t understand it until I sat down and watched it for myself though.

There was more entertainment in that hour than there was for the first hour of the superbowl. I find American football to be frustrating to watch, because interspersed with the hundreds of boring plays, there will be one or two athletic gems. It doesn’t compare to the CFL though. I think the difference is as simple as the difference between playing to win, and playing to make the other team lose. The NFL is very conservative in their play calling, preferring to wait patiently for the other team to make a mistake. The CFL style is to force the issue, and make your own players make plays. Part of it is the bigger field, and part of it is the other differences in the rules.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “D’oh, D’oh, D’oh, I mean, Woohoo!” - Homer