In 1991, I finished high school. Like most new graduates, I had no clue what I was going to do with my life. I had entered a teenage free fall. The "real world" everyone had been talking about was almost upon me. Parents refer to it during the final year of high school. Teachers and school career counsellors make it seem like you will die if you don't know what you want to do once you receive your diploma.

Why is this important and what the hell does it have to do with a Terminator? Follow me for a moment...

Yesterday, I was looking at a few movie trailers to see what movies I might have time to check out this Canada Day holiday weekend. It turned out that most of the films I wanted to see were already on their way out of theatres most were playing at theatres outside of Vancouver. We did what we always do when movie theatres are too far away - off to Happy Bats Cinema.

One of the films we checked out was I'm Not There, a Bob Dylan biopic. It stars a bunch of actors who each play a part of Bob Dylan. You really should check out the film as it is hard to explain without viewing it once.

One of the actors in the film is Christian Bale. He is a decent actor and I like what he does. I decided to look up each of the actors on Wikipedia - and I wasn't prepared for this - a new horrific reality. Apparently, there is a new Terminator movie coming out next year and it will star Christan Bale as John Connor. But that isn't it - they are abandoning all of the previously established story traits and realities.

No, no, no, no, no! They are messing with my teenage years! All of those angst ridden years where I was finding out who I was - I knew one thing. Terminators were always time travelling machines.

Possibly, I am over-reacting. But, no, no, please, no...

Technorati Tags: terminator, christian bale, salvation

I am officially old. I have mentioned my age a few times on the site but - never - has it become so apparent to me that I may feel old. So, what happened?

In the last twenty four hours, on two occasions, I have made pop-references to the studio album, Bark at the Moon. The conversations were about pop culture and I felt it was important enough that Ozzy Osbourne be mentioned in the context of said conversations. Unfortunately, my comments were met with blank stares and comments such as:

"You're what?"
"Bark at the what?"
"I say, huh?"

and

"Umm, I was one."

I mean, really, how can anyone I hang out with not know who Ozzy Osborne is? After all, didn't all of you hang out in your friend's basement and watch MTV and Much Music (when they were pay services) and listen to such classics like Rock 'n' Roll Rebel and Waiting for Darkness?

I had hoped this would never happen. As a matter of fact, I still remember counting down the days of 1999 - not because it was the year the world was going to end when all financial computers would fail and plunge us into the next Stone Age but because I would was almost twenty-six. Oh, to be twenty six again. I never wanted to feel old. It seems the younger generations have a keen ability to make older gents, like myself, feel that age has somehow diminished their value. Just because they are older means they don't know what they're talking about any more. They have lost their "drive" or the "juice" to live. I now recognize what my parent's have been experiencing since I was twelve. What a mouthy little brat that I must have been.

On the flipside, being older has its benefits. It is has been eight years since my twenty-sixth year and I find my attitude towards age has changed. I no longer fear it. It has lost overwhelming significance. It became simply the passage of time. An acceptance that it will happen to everyone whether they like it or not. Age brings wisdom (yah, yah, I hear the laughter from the peanut gallery) and one is able to place the world and their experiences into a larger context. We get to revisit where we've been and, ultimately, have a better understanding where we've been, why we have been there, and where we're going.

To those who are younger than me and, especially, to those who haven't a clue what Bark at the Moon is - it'll get you. It will and, when it does, I will sit back and laugh on the proverbial rocking chair and say: "Who the hell is Justin Timberlake?"

I will reform my attitudes towards those who are older and I should get back my command before I really do get old.

Technorati Tags: age, birthday, ozzy osbourne, bark at the moon, pop culture

Philip Stephen rules. We drink beer, he paints, I get impressed, and then I fall down like a silly fool. So, when I get e-mails from him announcing his shows, I love to pass it along. Here is the latest from Philip:

I am having a show or new work titled "Flights of Fancy" for the month of July at Libby's Kitchen, 3429 Porter Street, in Vancouver.

Please Join me for Opening Night on Thursday, July 3rd, anytime between 5-8pm. There will a raffle for a number of art pieces as well as some platters and wine and the kitchen will be open if you would like to order some dinner and hang out and chat while you are there.

If you miss opening night, the show will be up all month.

Please forward this message to your friends and family who enjoy fine and fun art.

Did I mention that some of his work hangs in the Left Right Minds office? It does and we love it! We don't hang just any art. We hit up the quality people.

Technorati Tags: philip stephen, art show, libbys kitchen

I just got word from the Victorian Quadrant that George Carlin is dead at the age of 71. Carlin had a long career as a comedian, actor, and general know-it-all. He was angry, funny, and, most of all, intelligent about his comedy. He pushed barriers and made us all look at ourselves with a sharper eye or, at least, forced us to laugh at ourselves. I wish I was a little bit older because I know I would have appreciated his contribution a whole lot more. I recently saw him on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show and he was plugging his new DVD collection.

Carlin, who had a history of heart trouble, went into St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., on Sunday afternoon complaining of chest pain and died later that evening, said his publicist, Jeff Abraham.

He had performed as recently as last weekend at the Orleans Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas.

"He was a genius and I will miss him dearly," Jack Burns, who was the other half of a comedy duo with Carlin in the early 1960s, said.

It wasn't until the late 1980's that I was introduced to George Carlin. He played Rufus, the time traveling mentor in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. I remember the first time I saw the extent of Keanu Reeves acting ability. It was was in the basement of my friend's house. He had invited a bunch of us over to watch the movie because he was excited that his new VCR (what the hell are those?) had Hi-Fi built into it. In theory, the sound would be better and the viewing experience would be enhanced. The movie started and the sound was much better than I had at home. The film movie was memorable and Rufus was added into that lexicon of my memory bank. Carlin was Rufus and Rufus was Carlin. As the years progressed, I took more notice of his comedy. I wanted to see more, hear more, and, eventually, the Internet was born and I was able to read about his career and catch snippets of his work. The sad thing is, it was only a few weeks ago that I was looking up some of his acts on YouTube. I was thinking about checking him out the next time he hit one of the local casinos. Damn. He was good. But, here is to you, George, you were good but I missed you before I knew you well: "Gentlemen. We're history." Technorati Tags: george carlin, death, comedy, bill and ted

I don't normally admit having emotional reactions to films or television shows but today I took a little time out and watched a couple of episodes of the show Californication. It is billed as a comedy (and, yes, it his hilarious) and features David Duchovny as a novelist and writer (and a lot of naked women) who can't seem to get past his life problems. He has been successful as a writer and has a lot of things going for him - but hasn't been able to write much since his family fell apart. He does start a blog, which I thought was very cool, and appears to find an outlet that way.

The show itself is entertaining but, as the episodes move onward, it started to get to me. The constant struggle of the main characters, their lack of control, their inability to cope with their lives started to pain me in the chest. (Metaphorically, of course.) Even when they appear to have a solution to even one problem, the solution turns out to be nothing more than a bandaid solution and, anyone within shrapnel distance, is taken down.

I am surprised that this show (which begins with a blow job sequence with a nun) has bothered me so much. I went into it thinking of it as nothing more than Mulder running around touching some boobs and girl bums. But, Mr. Duchovny has surprised me. He has put together a television program that is something more than average. It is smart and witty and deals with all of those problems we all suffer through from time to time. I am happy to take on the burden of the characters and share in some of that pain they are living through. It is a very rare glimpse into what good storytelling can do and how well written characters can overwhelm you when you least expect it.

It surprised me, Mr. Duchovny - it really did.

Technorati Tags: television, californication

I got an e-mail from Matchstick a few weeks ago to fill out a survey. So, like a good blogger, I filled out every question and promptly discovered that I was outside of their required age group. They also had a bunch of grammar and spelling errors in their form that I pointed out were incorrect and sent them a nasty note telling them off. If you're going to send out a survey and want bloggers to chat about products, at least use a spell checker! I think I was also a little miffed that they asked all kinds of questions about my music listening consumption and then said I was too old.

Then, to my surprise, they called me last week to tell me that I have been confirmed and approved as a recipient of one of their blogger giveaways. Of course, the deal is, you need to blog about the product they send you. And, as a nice twist, they did specify that the blogging was not a "suck up job". If the product sucks, say so. I found that a nice change.

The giveaway this time is a Microsoft Zune. So, over the next while (when I receive said Zune) I will be chattering about how it rules or how it sucks. I am a long time iPod user and should be able to compare them fairly. The iPod rules but there are little things here and there that frustrate me.

Will the Zune be a better solution? Who knows. We'll find out.

Technorati Tags: matchstick, zune, blogging, products

If you picked up The Province this morning (and, I mean, who hasn't really, it is the best paper in Vancouver, isn't it?) you'll see foot related coverage on it. The most interesting part of the article is they have included comments from their online coverage and it is these comments that play with my theory from yesterday.

Wierd

Wed, Jun 18, 08 at 04:35 PM