my name is john
these are my words.
The latest Digital Short (NSFW)
Dec 7th
Seems The Lonely Island boys will have a new album coming out in February.
To tease us, all three of them appeared in a digital short last night on SNL… titled… well… just take a listen 
Dispatches from the Road : Video Edition
Nov 30th
My fingers are still on holidays… so in place of a proper write-up on the holiday (which is still forthcoming)… this.
Want to see pix? They’re up on Flickr.
Music for a Road Trip
Nov 22nd
With my impending road trip to the mountains, I figured it’d be a good time to burn a few more CDs for the ol’ collection — especially since I’m going with the parents Ford Escape which has a 6-CD changer in it.
So, while it ain’t no Time-Life collection… here goes nothing.
Road Trip 2008 – CD #1 “Pop”
Katy Perry – Waking Up in Vegas
Kanye West – Good Morning
Bishop Allen – Middle Management
Mark Ronson / Amy Winehouse – Valerie
Peter Gabriel – Down to Earth
Coldplay – Viva la Vida
Jonas Brothers – Burnin’ Up
The Killers – Spaceman
Matt Costa – Mr. Pitiful
Usher – Love in This Club
Gavin DeGraw – In Love With a Girl
Natasha Bedingfield – Pocketful of Sunshine
Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch – Good Vibrations
Augustana – Boston
Armin van Buuren – Going Wrong
Timbaland feat. OneRepublic – Apologize
Road Trip 2008 – CD #2 “Rock”
Sam Roberts – Them Kids
Against Me! – Stop!
Pride Tiger – The Lucky Ones
Fall Out Boy – I Don’t Care
Metro Station – Shake It
The Mooney Suzuki – Alive & Amplified
The Dead 60’s – Riot Radio
Matt Mays & El Torpedo – Tall Trees
Lights Out Love – Belong To You
Phantom Planet – Do the Panic
The Midway State – Never Again
State of Shock – Hearts that Bleed
Ben Folds Live – Not the Same
Bon Jovi – Lost Highway
James Blunt – Wisemen
Hoobastank – My Turn
Jack’s Mannequin – American Love
Eagle Eye Cherry – Save Tonight
Road Trip 2008 – CD#3 “Alt”
MGMT – Time to Pretend
Fall Out Boy feat. John Mayer – Beat It
The Killers – Human
Carolina Liar – I’m Not Over
Kanye West – Heartless
Vampire Weekend – Ottoman
Kings of Leon – Use Somebody
Snow Patrol – Take Back the City
Jack Johnson – Sleep Through the Static
The Ting Tings – Great DJ
Flight 409 – Don’t Stop Believin’
Cold War Kids – We Used to Vacation
The Moldy Peaches – Anyone Else But You
The Submarines – You, Me and the Bourgeoisie
Jason Mraz – I’m Yours
Panic at the Disco – Nine in the Afternoon
Brendan Benson – What I’m Looking For
Road Trip 2008 – CD#4 “The Mix – A”
Britney Spears – Womanizer
The Kooks – Always Where I Need to Be
Rehab – Sitting at a Bar (Acoustic)
Jully Black – Until I Stay (Let’ Go To War Remix)
The Strokes – Last Night
MIA – Paper Planes
The Bravery – Believe
Maroon 5 – Makes Me Wonder
Drake Bell – Highway to Nowhere
Atreyu – Falling Down
Divine Brown – Next Best Thing
Counting Crows – You Can’t Count on Me
Does It Offend You, Yeah? – Dawn of the Dead
Kanye West – Stronger
Wyclef Jean – Fast Car
Major Maker – Last Goodbye
Road Trip 2008 – CD #5 – “The Mix – B”
Beyonce – If I Were a Boy
Kaiser Chiefs – Ruby
Devandra Banhart – Lover
Hedley – For the Nights I Can’t Remember
Gnarls Barkley – Run (I’m a Natural Disaster)
Mark Ronson – Just
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus – Face Down
Kanye West – Love Lockdown
The Kooks – Naive
Duffy – Mercy
Martha Reeves & The Vandellas – Nowhere to Run
Kenna – Out of Control
MGMT – Kids
State of Shock – Money Honey
Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc
The Bravery – Time Won’t Let Me Go
Third Eye Blind – Semi Charmed Life
Road Trip 2008 – CD #6 – “Comfort Food”
Feist – 1234
Randy Bachman – Prairie Town
Fontella Bass – Rescue Me
Ben Folds Five – Army
Drake Bell – Found a Way
Van Morrison – Real Real Gone
Jack’s Mannequin – Holiday from Real
James Hunter – The Hard Way
Bon Jovi & Jennifer Nettles – Who Says You Can’t Go Home
Kate Voegele – Hallelujah
Hedley – Old School
Otis Redding – Respect
Dixie Chicks – Landslide
Bruce Springsteen – Radio Nowhere
Sia – The Girl You Lost to Cocaine
Ben Folds – Tiny Dancer
Luke Doucet & The White Falcon – First Day (In the New Hometown)
Natasha Beddingfield – Unwritten
There it goes! And so do I… will blog (hopefully) from the road. Cheers!
+J
Bike blogging
Nov 17th
Well, it’s been a few days since I last wrote a blog entry while riding the bike at the gym.. and I figured today is as good of a day as any to do it.
Last week was spent behind the ‘Garlic Curtain’ (aka Yorkton) visiting the family. It has been a while since I travelled home, so this was a good catch up visit complete with rich, hearty, homestyle food. It was so tasty -yet bad for the waistline. That said, it’s home cooking and it is hard to beat.
While I was in Yorkton, I was relatively stranded from the social grid (save for my Macbook Pro) because my iPhone decided not to work. It simply wouldn’t detect the EDGE network, cutting me off from cell phone calls, text messages and the mobile web. It was amazing how quickly I got used to not having my phone handy at all times to do simple things like quickly looking something up on Google, or posting a witty – yet salient – quip to Twitter. By the time I hit the road on Friday, it was a total surprise to not only hear my phone ring, but to have stable service.
However, when my phone DID ring, I was dismayed that it was (yet again) for the folks who owned the number before I did. It seems they have a collection agency chasing them, and it’s the kind of one that uses a robocaller to make outbound calls. I tried calling in to the number once to tell them they have the wrong number, but after a 45 minute wait on hold, I said ’screw it’ and just started ignoring the calls. By the end of the week lady week, the calls were approaching two-a-day. That is when the straw broke the camel’s back. I called Rogers and got them to change the number. (They even did it at no charge!). Since then? No annoying calls. Hurrah!
Bike talk time is 15:10.
This weekend also saw me complete the purchase of all the gear I need to to and hurt myself in the mountains. I am quite proud to say I now own a snowboard jacket, pants, mitts, a new beanie, and wrist guards. Oh. And. A base layer. All I need to do now is rent a board and boots, and I’m set.
Going snowboarding is going to be one hell of a fun week. For the last three years, I’ve kept on saying I’d to and learn… And now I’m finally going. Whether I’d not I’m any good is beside the point. It’s all about having fun. And not breaking any limbs. And, if I yen turn out to be even half hood? I’ll have a new winter hobby.
The only thing left to do before heading off for the mountains is to get a haircut. Right now, I’m between three options. The least offensive (and probably most-worth-the-value) us to go to Angles and get the ol faux hawk. It is versatile, and wears well both for work and play. U could shave it all off again (which isn’t a bad thing since cold weather season is near and I get touque head somethig bad.) The other options I’m considering (and mom – because she reads this blog – cover your eyes) is to go for the shaved down mohawk landing strip… which could make me look particularily badass, and be easily converted to a plain ok shaved head upon my return to work.
Ahhhh. Decisions, decisions. What to to, what to do. (Your suggestions are welcome in the comments… )
Bike talk time is 27:20.
And with that, I’m going to wrap up yet another blog post from a stationary bike. It’s been a slice!
+J
Good night and good luck.
Nov 13th
I’m a huge fan of Countdown with Keith Olbermann.
Well, the fine folks over at 23/6 — one of the web’s finest humour sites — have managed to condense the KO experience in to 60 seconds… enjoy!
Notes from all over…
Nov 12th
The new album from The Killers – “Day and Age” – drops November 24th. The two cuts I’ve heard from it so far — Human and Spaceman — are fantastic. Spaceman especially. For some reason, The Killers manage to create a sound that sends my head back to when I was little — you know, wearing pajamas, eating cereal, and watching Saturday morning cartoons cross-legged in the living room. Simpler times…
I’ve been watching much more TV in the last few days of holidays than I have in a long time. In the process, I’m playing catch-up on some things. Like — for example — this (which is awesome.)
With Christmas not far away now, TV is starting fill up with commericals for the season. And, in an effort to stand out from the crowd, advertisers are really working overtime to find obscure Christmas-like songs to provide the soundtrack for the season of shopping. My favourite use of music right now is on the Sears commercials — where the song of choice is Badly Drawn Boy’s Donna and Blitzen. Very very cool.
Finally, Engadget/TUAW is reporting this morning that iPhone 2.2 firmware will start being available for download on November 21st. The two big additions for me will be the addition of Street View to Google Maps (damn Google vans… drive through Canada once in a while!), and the ability to turn off auto-correct (a good thing when you’re trying to talk in a corporate language and not in normal people words.)
On that note… I’m off to play some Blockles. You should too.
+J
Here’s your number.
Nov 11th
Have you been to CANOE.ca (the Sun Media online portal) lately?
If you have… then you’ll know what I’m talking about.
While I have no problems with Countdowns or Top Ten Lists… the folks over at CANOE seem to have this strange affection for numbered lists. Yep… numbers upon numbers upon numbers.
Today’s front page alone shows how much they love their numbers…
“10 most famous battlefields”
“10 places famous for death”
“10 worst hells on earth”
“8 trips that make you smarter”
“5 ways to deal with a bad boss”
“6 ways to turn off employers”
“7 things employers should do”
“9 tips to avoid the axe”
“5 true nightmare dates”
“11 who play by their own rules”
“22 biggest crises in Canadian history”
Does any of this really matter? Does Quebecor have so many experts in their operation that they’re bursting at the seams with knowledge and feel compelled to order what they know in to numbered lists?
Now, I take this shot at CANOE in a loving way. Out of all the national online portals, it is my favourite. Canada.com is incredibly difficult to navigate… CBC.ca is a hodge-podge mess… The Globe and Mail is a solid online newspaper, but it doesn’t offer the sticky gooey entertainment goodness of the Sun papers.
Using poorly created content (which I’m guessing is imported from somewhere else) to fill space is just wrong. And it takes away from my enjoyment of the CANOE.
Why use numbered lists to fill space when you could be creating more rich and useful content?
Here’s hoping someone over there will reconsider…
+J
“I’m not sure where I’m going. I’ll lead!”
Nov 5th
I just finished reading Tribes by Seth Godin. It is a fantastic book talking about the daring we all must embark upon in order to lead others.
Read it.
+J
Obama FTW!
Nov 4th
According to phxjay on Twitter…
WOOOO! McCain campaign to Fox news - “We have no path to 270.”
To me, that equals Obama FTW!
Hope beats fear.
Read it and weep, you arrogant, hateful, shill. Go hide in your cave for the next four years.
Hope beats fear.
Nov 3rd
To my American friends…
This Tuesday when you go to vote, remember – hope beats fear.
Vote Obama.
Spread the word.
+J