"Dude, Where's My Oscar?"



Perhaps enough has been said already, if you've been surfing the web or watching TV lately, about "The Butterfly Effect". But it hasn't been said by me... yet.



I'll be the first to admit that I liked "Dude, Where's My Car?", despite the kind of reputation that might earn me. And I've always thought the character of Michael Kelso on "That '70s Show" was hilarious. Ashton Kutcher (as far as I'm concerned) definitely has a good grasp of the comedic. So, I was a little intrigued when, as I sat waiting for "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" to begin, I saw the trailer for "The Butterfly Effect".



That was about a month ago. Last night, I went to see "The Butterfly Effect" and intrigue soon turned to fascination.



I don't want to spoil the movie, but here's the basic run-down that you get from the trailers:



Evan Treborn (Ashton Kutcher) is a young man who's life has been plagued with blackouts and lost memories. The son of a man institutionalized for severe mental breakdown, Evan also appears to have the same affliction that eventually drove his father insane. From an early age, a psychologist familiar with his father's case has encouraged Evan to keep a journal in an effort to help him retain his memories and stave off the madness.



Now, seven years after his last blackout, Evan lives a happy and normal college life. But things are about to change... While looking back in one of his journals, he is suddenly thrust backward through time to a moment and a memory previously lost. With the mind of a 20 year old trapped in the body of a 13 year old, he witnesses a traumatic event that forever changed and shaped the lives of the people around him. Upon waking from this "experience", Evan soon learns that his journals provide him with a way to return to the events of the past and change them, to right wrongs, and to shape the past for a better future. Yet, with each attempt to fine-tune the key moments of his past, he awakens to a present that is unexpectedly altered and increasingly disastrous. His frantic attempts to create "the perfect world" begin to make him appear unstable... like his father.



One of the most amazing things about this film is how wonderfully unpredictable it is in its predictability. Even though I could guess how each journey into the past would go wrong, I was always off by just a little bit. It was pleasantly surprising to be wrong. There have been enough "Scream" and "Sixth Sense" type movies lately to make us all experts in the art of detecting sudden 180 degree turn-arounds and surprise endings, but "The Butterfly Effect" is a whole new ballgame.



But, by far, the best thing about this movie is Ashton Kutcher himself. As I said, I've been a fan of his for some time now, but even I was totally unprepared for how brilliantly he shone in "The Butterfly Effect". I'm sorry if that sounds like schoolgirl gushing, but I truly was impressed. He so accurately displayed the broad range and depth of emotions one would expect from a person enduring the trials of his character as to be 100% convincing. You can feel his pain, his fear, his frantic urgency to fix his mistakes. As used to him as we are from "Punk'd" and "That '70s Show", here Ashton is Evan Treborn.



If there are any lingering questions about him as a future heavyweight in Hollywood, this movie will surely put them to rest.



As the credits rolled last night, I turned to my girlfriend and said, "I haven't seen a movie that good in a long time", and I meant it. Although I rarely say this, I recommend that everyone go see this film. Don't wait for the DVD. Don't wait for cheap Tuesday. Don't wait for a matinee. Go tonight... go right now. You won't be disappointed!



(for more, visit http://www.butterflyeffectmovie.com)

"Must Be Nice..."



We've all seen it... 3 city workers standing around a ditch with their shovels slung over their shoulders while a fourth guy (and probably the junior on the crew) digs away. And we've all made the same comment: "Must be nice to work for the city." Well, as of today, I'm not so sure...



I woke up yesterday only to find out that a water main had broken somewhere and our water service was a little screwed up. It was off, exactly, just a little slow. Sure, it took a little longer to fill the coffee pot but, other than that, it wasn't a big deal. In a matter of a couple hours, everything was back to normal. Case closed? Not really.



It normally takes me about 20 minutes to get home from work, in rush hour traffic. Today, it took an hour and a half! It was a bumper-to-bumper crawl the whole way. Apparently, that water main problem had partially shut down a 2 kilometer (little over a mile) section of road. It may not sound like a big deal, but when you consider that roughly 8 major communities in the northeast part of our city rely on that road... Well, that changes everything!



As the cars crept along, I couldn't help thinking that this shouldn't be happening. Seriously, the water problem had happened some 34 hours earlier... Surely they could have it cleaned up by now. But, I figured that they were only working on the problem from 9 to 5, like the rest of us, and probably dragging their asses about it, too. I couldn't have been more wrong.



When I finally arrived home, I hopped on the ol' computer and called up some of the local news sites. It turns out that approximately 100,000 people (including a 500 bed hospital) were without water for up to 5 hours Sunday morning. A major intersection became flooded with a metre (3 feet, give or take) of water that quickly turned to slush. Motorists who tried to drive through found themselves swamped, with water up to their windows, and had to be rescued by fire crews with a boat! A nasty thing anytime of the year, but imagine it when the mercury is sitting at a bone-chilling -25 Celsius (-13 F)!



So, not only did our "lazy city workers" manage to re-route water service for almost a tenth of our city in under 5 hours, but there are now crews of 6 working 9-hour shifts to clean up the ice, locate the break, and repair the damage. All in all, a pretty impressive feat! Sure, a couple lanes of traffic will be re-routed for the rest of the week... Yeah, it's gonna take longer to get home... So what? It sure beats being one of the guys working out there at this very moment, suffering windchills of -40 Celsius (that's about -40 in good ol' Fahrenheit, too)!



Hopefully I'll remember all this next summer when I see those 3 guys standing around the ditch... Then again, knowing me, I'll probably just look at them and say, "Must be nice to work for the city..."

Blah.



What happened to the weekend? One minute I'm sighing a sigh of relief at the end of a work week, and the next I'm thinking about having to get up early tomorrow and get back to it. If only Monday to Friday could go that fast...



Considering that I did NOTHING over the past 2 days, you'd think that they would have dragged by. Sure, I watched some hockey, messed around on the ol' computer for a while, read a book (kind of like a computer monitor, but the words are actually permanently typed onto papers, and these papers are all bound together). So, not only is the weekend gone, but I have little, if anything, to show for it!



Well, I guess that makes for some pretty boring blogging then, doesn't it?

Best Ways to Use Your Coffee Break



Okay, so here's a quick one for you all... I just wanted to highlight a few websites that you might want to check out. Yeah, I could stick 'em off to the side of this page under "Links", but you know as well as I do that you won't click on them. Why bother if you don't know what they are, right? All right then, here we go...



www.jeremy-smith.net

This is the newly launched "Official Website of Jeremy Smith", an up and coming guitarist on the Calgary music scene. Having been playing for more years than you've had that half-empty jar of tartar sauce in the back in your fridge, he's recently begun working on his first album. Check out the pics from his first-ever photo shoot (definite CD booklet material), view his ever-increasing collection of guitars, and listen to samples of his music.



www.dreams2.com

For some of the best Macromedia Flash animation that I've ever seen, visit the site of Magnus Karlsson. Forget "Elf Bowling" or "Gerbil in a Microwave"... Magnus' talent for weaving together sights, sounds, and ideas will truly amaze you. Three different Flash intros will have you eager to check out the 30+ movies you'll find inside. In my opinion, "1979 (not as I expected)", "For the Love of the Game", and "Teenage Wasteland" are among the most impressive and moving pieces... Definitely worth a look.



www.clint.ca

By far, one of the most clever and visually pleasing sites on the web today. The nearly tabloid style of the main page will have your eyes bouncing from funny quips to stunning original graphics, from off-the-cuff remarks to pictures that merely leave you wondering, "why?" But dig deeper and it gets even better. Clint Vander Klok's from-the-hip sense of humour and pointed social commentary will have you laughing away your coffee break.



And, finally, one last site that I have to give the "Time Waster of the Month" award to...

http://home.tele2.fr/kcv/pinguin.swf

Unless your a member of Green Peace, you'll have a hard time resisting this little Flash game.



That's it for now. Happy surfing and don't forget to tell 'em Cuppojoe sent you!

Go Out With a Bang? More Like a BOMB!



Long time, no blog... Yeah. Actually, long time no anything. At least nothing computer / Internet-related. Funny how the holidays tend to soak up all your time and even more of your money! Well, the mountains of discarded wrapping paper have been dealt with, the tree is down (just), and the Christmas lights on the house... Well, I guess they can stay up another year. So, on with the show!



I'm officially 15 days into the New Year and I can't say it's been too spectacular. Why? Well, just sit back with your hot cup of coffee and I'll tell you why!



I suppose the fact that New Year's Eve was a bust should have been something of an omen. You see, my girlfriend and I, along with her sister, my brother, and my brother's girlfriend all got tickets to this awesome "gala", put on by one of our local radio stations, JACK FM. Normally, the thought of a "gala" wouldn't have appealed much to me, but seeing as Tom Cochrane and Red Rider were to be the live entertainment for the night, I was in. Besides, the tickets said "Wear what you Dare", so at least I wouldn't have to wear a tie!



Thankfully, my "daringness" only extended to black jeans, dress shoes, and a nice shirt (the pattern is called "Bamboo" and it's really cool... You should come over and see it sometime). I say this because all 1500+ ticketholders were forced to line up outside the building for an excruciating 45 minutes in the lovely -20 Celsius (that would be -4 F for all you Yankees out there) weather we were treated to that night. You can imagine that some people were very dressed up for the occasion, and I can't believe that nylons were doing much to keep the women warm! It was about this time that the first few shouts of, "JACK sucks!" could be heard...



Yes, eventually we did get inside, around 8:15. And, since we had all paid the extra 20 bucks, we received our meal ticket and hand-stamp to "Dine Around the World". Doesn't that sound awesome? What an exotic way to feast on the final night of 2003! Well, that was what I was thinking before we got inside... Turned out that "Dine Around the World" referred to about 8 small buffet tables with food from Italy (yep, spaghetti), China (yes indeed, ginger beef), the U.S.A (you can only imagine how long it had been since I had meat and potatoes), and Africa (which, I must say, actually was somewhat exotic). To be fair, despite the rather mundane "variety", the food was delicious, so I can't complain too much. HOWEVER... Picture this: There had to be at least 300 to 400 people who had opted for the buffet. And there was seating for (and this is not an exaggeration) approximately 60 to 70. On top of that, there were small, pub-style tables to stand at for another 50 or so, and that was it! Ever try to cut roast beef with one hand while balancing your plate on the other? Yeah, me neither... Now there were a few more, "JACK sucks!" to be heard.



Now, since this was a New Year's party, I know what you're thinking... "If you haven't got a table, and you're eating standing up, where do you put your drink?!?" Ah... Not a problem, my friend. JACK took care of that. In the entire building, there were 3 "bars" (the quotes indicating that I'm using the term loosely. In fact, they weren't much more than glorified lemonade stands). And, since these "bars" were staffed by only one or two people each, there were lines of people by the HUNDREDS snaking their way this way and that. Average wait-time in line: 30-45 minutes. As you can imagine, as each person got to the "bar", they ordered as much as they could carry. Naturally, the beer-drinkers had an easier time of it, not only because a stack of cans is easier to carry than a bunch of hi-balls, but also because the "bars" were about as well stocked as my first liquor cupboard in college (I could make you anything as long as it contained rum, rye, vodka, and/or Coke). The, "JACK sucks!" trend grew...



And so, the bulk of the evening consisted of: Get in line. Wait. Wait some more. Wait too long. Finally get beer. Chug beer. Get back in line. Try not to lose your buzz while waiting for next acquisition of beer.



Now, I know what you're thinking again... "But at least you had Tom Cochrane and Red Rider to liven up the party!" Well, think again, amigo! Sometime around 8:30 (by which time we were already beginning to regret the $75 each that we had paid), the hosts from JACK FM, a couple of minimal-talent Morning Show guys by the names of Matt and Eric, came on stage to welcome everyone and announce that Tom and the boys would be starting at 11:00 to help us ring in the New Year! Disappointing, yes, but we figured that they'd just have a DJ spinning some cool dance tracks until then. No different than the big clubs, right? Wrong. No DJ. No dance music. Instead, 2 and a half hours of uninterrupted JACK FM format. That's right, just about every 80's and early 90's Rock song you'd ever what to hear! It was like going to huge house party and listening to the radio all night! And the chanting of "JACK sucks!" got into full-swing...



Sometime around 9:30, one of the Morning Dudes got back up on stage to remind everyone we were in a Non-Smoking building, and this included the pot they could smell. Not surprisingly, this was met with a volley of "JACK sucks!", to which he had the balls to respond with, "Yeah, but at least we're here, so suck it up!" Now, you just don't see corporate professionalism like that anymore these days...



And now for the Saving Grace of the evening. Tom Cochrane and Red Rider. They came on at 11:00, as promised, and they were brilliant. Plain and simple. Despite the absolute Gong Show that JACK FM had tried to pass off as a New Year's Gala (and believe me, Tom knew how bad it was, too), those guys put on one hell of a performance! The place came alive in time to greet 2004, which we toasted with our complimentary one ounce of Champaign.



They played until about 1:00, when the party started to wind down and people started for the door (singular). Not wanting to get crushed by everyone rushing out to start frozen vehicles, we decided to kick around for a bit until things died down a little. And you'll never guess what happened... Go on! Guess! No, we didn't meet Tom Cochrane. But, as soon as Red Rider's equipment was off the stage, out came a DJ who began spinning club tracks! And he was good! Definitely not one of the JACK FM guys, no way! Why he wasn't out earlier in the night, we'll never know... So we stayed until about 2:00 and then decided to leave. Did I forget to mention that the Coat Check was located in a tent outside the building? Well, it was. You can just make up you own little diatribe about that one... I'm too tired to.



And, if you managed to make it this far, I'm willing to bet that you're pretty tired too. So, I'll take pity on you and recount the Further Woes of 2004 another time. Now get out of here and grab another cup o' Joe...