It is nearly 4:00am and the snowplough (isn’t it snowplow? it’s late and I’m going to go with the spellchecker on this one) is burying my car. Something or someone is always burying my car. I would call them names, but Jenn thinks I have developed a potty-mouth (my words, not hers) so I will refrain. For now.

Also. Does anyone have pictures of Yan from the TV show Wok with Yan, or know where such pictures might be found? Let me know.

Am listening to a bunch of Tahiti 80 songs. Am undecided as to whether I like them, or whether they are too sugary, too poppy and too boring. I’ll let you know.

Six hours until I get to wake up again! Yee haw!

It occurs to me that while reviews are all well and good, that perhaps I should be telling you about some events before they happen.*

Thursday go to Fishbones cafe (on Richmond St.) and see Windom Earle along with Port Citizen, The Guthries and Eyes for Telescopes, who will likely have their new album on sale.** Starts at 8:00pm.

Friday go to the alter-cases at The Barn. Starts at 7:00pm.

Saturday go to the alter-cases at Brennan’s which starts at 11:00am. Then go to Baba’s at 9:00pm and see Mike O’Neil, Joel Plaskett, Slocoaster and others.
Or, if you happen to be in Wolfville and not on PEI, wake up at some ungodly hour of the morning and go to Acadia University (it’s in Wolfville, right?). At 9:00am, somewhere on campus, I’ll be reading a series of poems cleverly titled Instructions on Living With Bears and Other More Familiar Animals. Those of you who are currently thinking disparaging thoughts about poems and the people who write them, why don’t you go play hockey, or whatever it is that you neanderthal-motherfuckers generally do.

Sunday go back to Baba’s to see some excellent hip hop featuring Buck 65, Sixtoo, Fermented Reptile and The Goods. This happens sometime in the afternoon.

Following that you should go back to Fishbone’s for a jam session hosted by the aformentioned Eyes for Telescopes and featuring some of the other bands mentioned above.

If you do any of these things, tell me about it.
Cheers.

* I have no idea whether tickets should be bought in advance of any of these events.
** Once I get my paws on one I will offer a review.

Rehashing a few old posts, I will remind you of some great things.

First of all, go visit explodingdog.com. If you haven’t been there before, I assure you that it has nothing to do with exploding dogs. Rather it is a site of fantastic illustrations that will make you laugh and cry (the happy kind). If you have been there before, go again.

Then, if you haven’t already, sign up for our mailing list. We’ll only send you brilliant emails.

Finally, email us. Tell us how much you love/hate us (be specific). Suggestions, submissions, compliments, and insults are welcome: thegeniuses@actsofvolition.com

Some things unrelated:

Read this article on Salon concerning one of the greatest actors of all time. And while we’re talking about Bill Murray, it should be mentioned that he will be playing a lounge singer (!) in Steven Soderburgh’s remake of Ocean’s 11, which might also be starring Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Warren Beatty, Micheal Douglas, Johnny Depp, George Clooney, Alan Arkin and Matt Damon, among others. I swear, I’m not making this up. Did I mention Bill Murray plays a lounge singer?

Next time school closes, will someone tell me about it? Ignorant bastards.

On a somber note, WWF legend Yoko Zuna is dead. Full story here. Rest in peace big guy.

It has to be at least a dollar actually. But is that too much to ask for our sharp humour and cunning witticisms? No, it is not.

Amazon.com has set up a new system called the Amazon Honor System which is the electronic equivalent of throwing money in to our hat as we amuse you on the sidewalk of [lame cyber-analogy censored].

The system allows an independent website (like our humble aov) to put a cute little (actually quite large) graphic on their page that when clicked will allow viewers to pay the site authors for their brilliance. Transactions are a minimum of $1 and maximum of $50. Amazon takes a 15% cut in exchange for handling the transaction.

Stay calm though! Keep your plastic in your pockets! You can’t give us money yet. You need a U.S. Checkings Account for Amazon to pay you (and U.S. bank accounts are hard to come by on Prince Edward Island).

Those wacky folks at Amazon (or at least the wacky remaining 85%) are always cooking up cool new schemes. The Amazon Purchase Circles are another cool one (especially for you privacy buffs). You can view popular products by employer (Microsoft seems to be quite self-interested). The Amazonians must be trying to keep busy to avoid killing Jeff Bezos for his incredibly annoying laugh.

A brief accounting of my goings and doings, to borrow a phrase, over the past few days. This excludes certain foods eaten, some drinks drank, numerous things said and overheard, a couple sleeps slept, some women ogled, a few phone calls made and received and many other events, small and large.

Thursday
54-40 (rock and roll)
And the verdict is: Meh. 54-40 are good musicians, they’re a tight band and I was surprised at the number of songs I recognized. That said, there’s something missing – they just aren’t exciting.

Friday
House (video)
This 1997 Canadian movie, starring Daniel MacIvor, was recommended to me by the man known as Windom Earle. Really more of a one man play than a movie, the stories contained within are clever, moving and odd (like me!). An excellent movie.
waydowntown (movie)
Another excellent (much more so, in fact) Canadian movie. See the ugly website and/or read this post by Steve (stunt-driver extraodinaire), which should, but does not, mention that the cast includes Don McKellar, as all casts should.

Saturday
Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou? (movie)
Depression era America as fairytale. This movie, and more or less everything within, is brilliant. Excellent performances by John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman and (especially) George Clooney. Amazing cinematography and music as well.
The Lone Star (restaurant)
Love them fajitas and salty chips.
Eyes for Telescopes (rock’n’roll)
Still the best band in Charlottetown, even if their drummer sang a little (more than a little) out of tune. They’ve been together less than a year and have an incredible number of good songs.
Port Citizen (rock’n’roll)
Heavy punk stuff – not so good. Funkier Reggae songs – pretty damn good. They’re better everytime I see them, which makes you wonder why they don’t invite me to more shows.
Flush (rock and roll)
See the above review of 54-40, but not the part about recognizing the songs. Added bonus(es): Drummer spits a lot and hits drums extremely hard, guitarist wears tattoos, mohawk and no shirt.
Richard Wood (MC for rock show)
Inexplicable. Unecessary. Uninformed. Goofy lookin’ too. Sorry man.

Alright, that took a really long time to write. Next weekend I’m either doing less stuff, or just not telling you about it.

When I tell you that Mike Lecky is the future of the Internet, understand that I am wrong. Understand that I am being entirely too hopeful, that the future of the Internet will likely follow the future of all things these days – less art and more product.
Less art and more advertising. But I can dream.

So then:
here is dmo (newer) and dmo (older).

Socks, headphones, supermodels and other things sad and beautiful.

Saw waydowntown at City Cinema* last night. Excellent movie. Smart, stylish, and very funny (kind of like matt).

The movie is about a group of friends who make a bet to see who can live in the connected office building apartment complex in which they work and live without going outside for one month. Having once spent three days in Halifax at a conference without breathing fresh air (the two main hotels, the conference center, and of course, the casino are all connected), I was having retroactive claustrophobia.

   View the trailer »
 

Chapters.ca used to be a good ecommerce site. It’s relatively easy to use (thanks to a heavy amazon.com influence) and your orders would actually arrive. This is no longer the case. The site is still quite good, but don’t expect your orders to actually arrive. Here’s my timeline (complete with pertinent news):

• January 18th
  Ordered two books from Chapters.ca.
   
• January 19th – 29th
  Sat around waiting for my books.
   
• January 30th
  Now disgruntled, I cancelled my orders from Chapters.ca and re-ordered the books from Indigo.ca.
   
• February 1st (that’s only two days later for those of you who aren’t too strong in the maths)
  My two books arrived from Indigo.ca.
   
• Also on February 1st
  Indigo.ca squashes Chapters.ca, rendering my complaint somewhat useless.

Bottom line: Order from Indigo.ca, not Chapters.ca (not that it matters anymore).