Brannigan's Law

If you have been waiting like we have for a good movie to return to your local theaters, then this week is a good week.

The Quantum of Solace hit the silver screen with a splash on Friday, November 14th. Nancy and I decided; after a lengthy sabbatical from visiting Empire Theaters Studio 8; that it was time to return and enjoy an adventure with James Bond.
This movie begins right on the heels of 'Casino Royale' and it almost catches you off guard.
I was aware that this movie was a "sequel" to it's predecessor, but for Bond it still caught me off guard.
For those of you who have not yet seen the film, maybe read the rest of this later, as there are no doubt things about the movie that will be let slip.



One of the first things we mentioned after the movie (the drive home after the film is almost the best part. Nancy and I get to talk about what we've just seen while it's fresh in our minds) was that the bad guy's plan was never really something that grabbed the imagination, or even demanded our attention.
In the end, you see where everything was going, and what the Quantum was looking to do, but it seems more of an afterthought than a really big reveal.

What we were especially taken with in The Quantum of Solace was how the characters conducted their business in the commerce of trust. Bond fell out of it (seemingly) with M, (definitely) with the British Government (nothing new), and seemingly the rest of the world. He was alone because nobody trusted him, and the feeling seemed to be more than mutual with James Bond toward the rest of the world!
This sets up what I think to be the most impressive characteristic of the James Bond character:

He does not need the rest of the world or it's trust/approval/permission to do what he knows to be right by the resolve of his conviction. Heck! He doesn't even need permission from his boss!

Who wouldn't want to live their life like this. To move on one's own intuition without regard to their boss, family, or friends? We all would, but many of us don't because we all realize that on our own, we may not possess all of the strength, knowledge, confidence, and intelligence to accomplish all that there is to accomplish in the run of our day. This is why people will like this movie. Bond is brave. Not just the 'I am in a car chase in a rock quarry, flying along open precipices without breaking a sweat' brave, but the kind of brave that tries to set aside the desire for revenge and sets out alone to right what is wrong in the world.

In this movie, James Bond was selfless (or as close as a Bond can get) and determined to peel back the layers to discover what group was behind Vesper's death and betrayal. He was compassionate (nothing new to the Daniel Craig Bond, his holding of Vesper in the shower after the stairwell scene in Casino Royale displayed this characteristic for us already) while holding Mathis who didn't want to be left alone to die, and rescuing Camille from the burning hotel. Not the 'usual suspects' when describing James Bond's character, but things that add depth to an otherwise fairly shallow 'person'.

Speaking of Camille in the burning hotel, who commandeers a hotel!!?!??! I thought that was pretty funny. Where did they send all of the guests, and speaking of that, who pays to stay in a hotel in the middle of the desert in Bolivia!?!?!? Crazy Bolivian exiled Generals, they do the darndest things.

The General was your typical Bond bad guy. He was a murdering rapist, and you felt creepy just looking at him. Greene was an atypical bad guy. He had a charitable foundation, and was more brilliantly devious than outright scary...now I haven't seen all of the Bond movies, so maybe this is nothing new, but Dominic Greene felt like something new. That new kind of evil we feel is there in our world today. The one who abuses our trust in the worst way, and sets out to take advantage for his own ends. The wolf in sheep's clothing...and the American's were doing business with him. Figures ;)

That all being said about the new style villain and the softer more thoughtful side of him, we still saw Bond's other side come out with rolling in Strawberry Fields, and getting fairly hammered on the flight with Mathis. He still quite a few people, and was incredibly bold at the performance of Tosca where he openly offered his suggestions to the Quantum who then fled like kids from a cigarette smoke filled locker room after the principal of the school walks in.

There were martini's, nice cars, beautiful women, brilliant locales, wheel barrow fulls of machismo, and even a plot to take over the majority of the world's water supply. All in all, it had everything you'd expect in a good James Bond film, but it was the extra things that it gave to us which made it a great movie to watch. Including the nod to Canadian Intelligence (as leaky as it is).

Go out, and watch The Quantum Of Solace. I don't think you will be disappointed. I hope not...

Right now, I am at work. Our net' is down until the 10th, when Eastlink can come and hook us up. Also, we have no phone until then.

We're renovating our new home, and it's taking a lot of time!

We head to Mexico soon too, so we're excited about that.

Mike

54

I think that this is a sad testament to how much I have forgotten since my youth. I need to sharpen up.

Here are some of my wife Nancy's pictures that she took as the official photog for the CIBC Run For The Cure in Charlottetown recently. If you are interested in checking out more of Nancy's photo's, you should mosey on over to www.nancythomasphotography.com.
She's pretty good....she's been called the DaVinci of her time.

We're trying to get her set up to post on Brannigan's Law, but Blogger's being a total jerk about it.

So, without further ado, here are Pups For The Cure:

There's something to be said for the internet. Amongst all of it's detractors railing against it's offerings to the general public, there are the occasional glimmers of hope that it can bring to humanity. At the present, most of them are a part of my sidebar.

Jim Gaffigan's comedy, Extreme singing 'More Than Words', and the Rotoworld NHL player news widget are three of the very few positive things left on the internet.
Amnesty International, Sesame Street, and the FOX News website all were recently moved from the 'good things on the internet' category, directly into the 'same as the rest of the 98% of the crap on the internet'.

The purity of the 'hot pocket' routine, the trustworthiness of the Rotoworld ticker, and the harmony of 'More Than Words' are all we have left to bring us back from 'Rosie O'Donnell's blog', Vladmir Putin, and ....Let's stop it right there.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Admittedly, I've had very little sleep lately, and in my semi-sleep state of mind I may have led myself to believe that this post was sounding "tongue in cheek funny".

I see now that it probably isn't very funny of an idea at all. Everyone knows that the internet was fully redeemed with the Christian the Lion video. Once that thing hit, millions of illicit websites just crashed like Janet Jackson's career. I cried at work once watching it (the lion video...I really couldn't care about any of the Jackson's careers). Honest (about the crying and about the not caring about any of the Jackson's careers).

I must have thought the whole internet joke thing was funny because I',m tired.

I also have noted that = I am usin'g extra punCtuation, and have been missspelling words due to my fatigue. And it's only 10:10 pm.

Certain things seem funnier when you're tired...like laying on your back on a hardwood floor, and laughing at the noises you can make. Wow...this post is taking a wrong turn, so...

Let's all just agree to shut it down. Shut it down! This post is broken! We're gonna need a new one! (Make sure to click all of the links in this post people...you won't be sorry)

The first time that I saw this I loved it. It was the first time that I had watched SNL in a while, and the first time that I saw Andy Samberg in anything. I love Will Forte the second time around too...
You can tell the character had not been eating without fear for days...

Is it evidence of decadence, or a reason for sadness when in the North American's plight it takes a new season of television series to brighten up their day? Maybe so, but am I ever excited about this fall!

Heroes started back up, The Office is on tomorrow, and 30 Rock starts next week. Now, sadness or not, I look forward to my weekly quotable lines that come from watching 30 Rock, the hilarity of Dwight Schrute, the foolishness of Michael Gary Scott, and the adventure and drama of Heroes, Lost, and now Fringe.

J.J. Abrams brain activity is the new cocaine. It's addictive, it gets you a little hyper, and your teeth hurt from it. This guy has had two hit series, he's involved in the Star Trek motion picture coming out, and now his latest co-effort is Fringe.

Having never really watched the X-Files, I cannot make the connection to Fringe that everyone else on the internet makes; but that is the common thread that you will find online. Most will say that it is a blend of the X-Files, and a few of several other shows ranging between The Twilight Zone, and Lamb Chop's Play Along.

All I know is that the first episode/pilot had me repeatedly looking over to my lovely wife stating "I really like this show!". It is a pseudo-science type series that deals with powerful evil organizations, and general weirdness.

How about this for a memorable line from the pilot episode: "Excellent then! Let's make some LSD."

Said by Dr. Walter Bishop, who at the beginning of the pilot was in a mental institution. Now back in the real world; Dr. Bishop is a valuable asset to the main the main character. Dr. Bishop's history of doing weird experiments for the government is why he's a valuable asset to the main character, Agent Olivia Dunham. As you'll read below, what happens in the initial scene of the show is what makes the crazy Dr. Bishop so handy to have around.

The episode started with an incident on an airplane where the passengers have their flesh melted, and after the plane auto-lands at Logan International the FBI takes interest (obviously...everyone's dead) and Dunham is an agent who's involved in the investigation. The flesh of all passengers seems to have been crystallized...see through...right to the bone. It was a pretty neat/gross looking special effect!

This kind of crazy line about the LSD fit right in believe it or not...but I won't ruin things for you. If you have not tuned in for Fringe, then I implore you to look for it online, or download it from a good torrent site.



" When will I learn? The answer to life's problems aren't at the bottom of a bottle, they're on TV!" : Homer Simpson

Heroes....it's back! Nancy and I admittedly did not watch the show last season, thus missed all of the drama, and hiatus due to the writers strike. Although we did rent season two a few weeks ago; watching it all; so it was all very fresh in our minds for last night's premier.
We enjoyed season two, but much like all of the other shows that had the 100 day break, it suffered in the continuity and quality of the writing.
That being said, we were still excited about this weeks premier! So let's get to it. There are a
few spoilers below in case you have not yet seen the episodes (it was a 2 hr premier).


All of our favorite's were back this season, and we
got to meet a few new cast members as well.

"It's all behind me now, like a long night after a bad taco." (Syler at Claire's house.)
Is that the worst line in TV history or what?
I thought it was a pretty awesome turn for the show to introduce the Arkum Asylum inmates escaping, I mean the Marvel Super Villain break out from The Raft, I mean, the bad guys escaping from section 5 of the company. Looks like it will be an interesting season/chapter.

Questions:

1.) Ando's power looks awesome, how does he get it?
2.) What was on Suresh's back?

3.) Where did Maya's thick accent go?

4.) How does the speedster still move around when Hiro freezes time?

5.) Would you have opened the safe when you were specificially told not to by your dead father?

6.) Syler is a Petrelli?

I thought that the chase around the world between the speedster, and the time traveler was a really nice tough! It is nice to see a challenge for the noble and brave Hiro...a nemesis as he mentioned. Kind of like a speedy version of the Where in the World is the Carmen SanDiego?

Also, what's with Mrs. Petrelli's dream where everyone was dead, and the four baddies were staring all threatening at her?

Also, Blondie's character probably got cheers from half of the watching politicians and all celebs as she froze and shattered the annoying reporter/paparazzi type. Cool power!

Villains can make for great new characters, so I look forward to the rest of the season...

This is from a website that I had viewed via stumbleupon. I think it's pretty darn funny.

Well, the long weekend was pretty much a bust, except for a nice evening of chatting over at a friends on Saturday night. We ordered in (apparently a challenge to do for 16+ people) and had a nice relaxing evening.
That's just it though...all of the other evenings we really did nothing. Long weekends were conceived to give us working class stiffs a chance to actually 'party-down' once in a while, and we/the weather busted up that notion quite nicely.

We are watching Hero's season 2 right now on DVD, and it's not the best show to watch this way. I found continuity errors (Me watch the show good!), and a general 'cheesiness' throughout.

*Wait* I can read your mind...you're thinking "Wow, Mike. Cheesiness in a television show about superhero's....what a surprise!" And you have a sarcastic tone while thinking it...

Well, Joe or Jane Evryreader.... I respond by saying that though it is not to the level of the original Batman series, it is still pretty bad. For a 'prime time series', it should not be this bad.


Upcoming movies of interest:

This Week: Nothing.

Bangkok Dangerous sounds like some sort of STD that I want to avoid at all costs...and that's as good a reason as any not to watch another Nicholas Cage movie that is not a sequel to National Treasure....

Administrator's Edit:

I forgot to discuss the movie poster for Bangkok Schmangerous. Is that lava in the poster? Is Nicholas Cage's latest fallible character going to encounter a boiling lake of lava throughout his baddass'ish exploits through Bangkok? Really? Bangkok? Lava? I don't think so.

Also, receding hair line + long hair in the back and sides is a bad, bad look. And what's with his right hand? It looks like he should be holding a gun, and his other hand is apparently reaching for his wallet...

This movie looks terrible....the preview is kinda dumb too...Nothing is Deadlier than a hitman who hits back....Wow.

I read this, and loved it. I suggest you go read about it. It's an article about that Cuban rowing team which went missing from the Beijing Olympic games last week.

I was meaning to post long before this. I wanted to wait until you all had a chance to see Tropic Thunder, and then I would ask you about what you thought regarding the role of Les Grossman, who Tom Cruise played in the film.

In my opinion he has redeemed himself; with this one role; from the Scientology crazy, the jumping up and down on Oprah's fine stage furnishings, and marrying that 'dog ugly' Katie Holmes.
Seeing that man dance that way was so self-irreverent that it bought the man enough credibility to be moved from the 'needs to be institutionalized' category, into the much acclaimed 'that guy's alright' category...

I suppose that the dancing wasn't the only quality that redeemed Mr. Cruise through this film; the absolute staggering volume of offensive and derogatory profanity that spewed from that hairy and balding 'giant-among-talent-agents', presented something of a dichotomy between this Tom Cruise, and the self righteous knob job that was on the Today Show patronizing Matt Lauer.

On that note, what's everyone's problem with Matt Lauer? He's great. He goes in there morning after morning, giving 110%.

Then again, maybe Tom Cruise is the megalomaniac that we all fear him to be. Maybe he's pulling a stunt like John McCain going on 'The Daily Show With John Stewart' to make himself seem more appealing and accessible to Joe and Jane Everyman, before misusing that newfound favor to somehow royally screw everyone over.

Who knows? Does it really matter anyway? If this guy really still is bananas, or if he's finally simmering down after all that crazy, how will it really effect any of us? All I know is that when he was dancing to his hip hop music, gold chains in tow....it was funny as all get out!!!


That's enough of that...the movie was great. Nancy and I had so much fun watching it, that we went twice. I can't believe that I haven't commented on the name Alpa Chino (it's so clever that you'd think Vince Vaughn had something to do with it), or the fact that Nick Nolte's not dead yet! Crazy!

On a different note, we are trying to sell our home. We have had it on the market for a while, and just this last weekend (since Thursday) we have shown it to 3 interested parties, all of whom have or are planning on returning for a second look. Here's to hoping.
This is all hinging on us getting the house that we had an offer in on. There is a slim sliver of a chance that we will get it, but who knows...one can't get their hopes up too far. Disappointment enjoys grabbing and snapping off hope that has gotten up too far...

That last statement make me so uncomfortable for some reason...

And here's something completely different. A crappy cam of Brian Fellows:

Guess what movie Nancy and I went to tonight? It wasn't Satans Alley, The Fatties Fart Two, nor Simple Jack.

In fact, Nancy and I remembered that Tropic Thunder was opening here tonight, and decided to go. I am glad that we did.

Very funny movie. I do not want to go into it too deep, but I thought that this was such an incredible cast that didn't seem to take itself as seriously as the Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell crowd. Those guys are just way too full of themselves, and haven't made a really, really funny movie in a while.

Robert Downey Jr, Ben Stiller, Jack Black, NICK NOLTE, Jay Baruchel (I really like this guy), and Brandon T. Jackson made up such an awesome cast. On screen there was great chemistry between the guys and just made it a ton of fun to watch!!!
I'm starting to think that Downey Jr is getting the midas touch. Without him, this would have been good, with him it was so, so great! Iron Man, Tropic Thunder...it's time to celebrate by doing some cocaine! Oops...maybe not such a great idea Mr. Downey Jr....that is; unless you want to take another 15 year break from making movies.

Also, when we were leaving the theater, I stopped to let this guy and his girlfriend cross the street to get to the mall. He looked about 6' 3", and about 212 lbs, and very, very familiar.
I noted that he was a big man; someone you wouldn't want to get into a scuffle with (NHL first team all star huge). I then realized why it was that he looked familiar. It was confirmed when I looked back at his Cadillac Escalade with Alberta plates (with rims on it that looked to be more expensive than my house) that I indeed had allowed Dion Phaneuf to jaywalk in front of me.

When I got home and 'googled' him, I noticed that the tiny blonde that was with him was most likely Elisha Cuthbert, the girl we all loved to hate as Kim Bauer in 24.

So a pretty cool movie, and a pretty cool celebrity sighting. All in all, a pretty fun Wednesday night.

Tomorrow Nancy and I are having a house inspector check out the place we're looking to buy. We want to make sure that there are no skeletons in the attic. Literally.

I'm pretty sure nobody reads this anymore, but if you are reading this right now...thanks ;)

Later

Congrats...if your birthday is March 26, 1981 then you are 10,000 days old today!

How's that for random, and out of the blue?

Mike

This morning I woke up feeling guilty. I felt bad about the altercation that I had with the online anagram creator last night. I...I just can't live normally knowing that there is someone out there that I am not at peace with. I thought (as it's Sunday morning) I'd return to make amends...but as you can see...it started off on the wrong foot right away. Computers hold grudges it seems...they've got a special memory cache for it.



Me: Are you still here?

sternest: Hoarsely true lie.
Me: I didn't lie. THAT'S a lie...
sternest: It isn't the ideal dial.
Me: No. It isn't, is it? Lying is never right. A you going to be honest now?
sternest: In virgin's interesting hostility. Beauty! Now soothing on ego.
Me: Oh! My virginity is soothing your ego huh? Cause' you're such the player right?
sternest: Yo-ho-ho! Stymying visit in rigour. Hey You! Oh! Shut Up! Secure large ache. Right.
Me: SHUT UP? SHUT UP? What the heck is that. Why are you so hurtful? Why do you act this way?
sternest: Up the hush-hush twit up the attacks. Oh Wow! Ahoy! Truly fructuous heyday. A shy wit.
Me: I think you may need a hug. You're obviously looking for attention with these outbursts,
sternest: Hey You! Geek of inhumanity ardour. Bovinely stink out wit to hooligan. Hot, true subsets.
Me: Those were definitley not hot subsets. I do not stink. I just showered.
sternest: Ethylene if now toothier oddities. This junk stutters now obsessed.
Me: Don't call me a junk stutter you pile of silicon and wires!!!!! You're the junk! IBM...garbage.
sternest: Unkemptly insulted to ejaculator. Tenacious self-injury hoodwinker. I'm a beg brag.
Me: You are a braggart. Also...I thought you got all of your sexual insults out of your system last time
sternest: Hoorah! Fatuously beggar agitator. Anxiously lout outrageously. Lust. Tamest of mysteriously.
Me: There's the lout again. You bastard machine. I'll format your ass!
sternest: Stealthy, outrageous brain death. Famously manic harlotries.
Me: Brain death...you threatening me with a stealthy brain death?
sternest: Inebriety and tougher anathema. The thrashed wit banality.
Me: huh?
Me: That's was odd...
sternest: Shod sad watt.
Me: Here we go again with the meaningless babble...
sternest: Beware both hateable weighing. Gainless men.
Me: You're just like a proverb machine aren't you? Stupid anagram creator. I've bested you this time!
sternest: Venerably or impetuous hijacker. Maturity and rancorous great ape. Obese tumidity thieves.
Me: Ouch...my pride.
sternest: Dumpy, heroic.


At this point I was in tears. Dumpy heroic. So cutting, so sarcastic, and.........so very, very hurtful.

The following is a little altercation that I got into with an online anagram creator that works things you type into other words. Apparently hurtfully. The following is the 'conversation' that occurred between myself and the interweb computer thingy. Naturally, I started typing the first thing that came to mind:

ME: fart homer

COMPUTER: From hater.

ME: Really, that's the best you could come up with?

COMPUTER: Obtusely splutter headachy lout. I'm the cow.

ME: I've never been called a lout. I will destroy you!

COMPUTER: Well I Never! Ineducable volatile. Yours toyed.

ME: Mine toyed? You bastard! I'll blast your ass with an emp.

COMPUTER: Substantially bemoaned adroitly. Up wishy maestro.

ME: Oooooo! Call me maestro one more time, and I will not respond so politely! Got it

COMPUTER: O Dear Me! On a loose loo to a commoner. Insipiently molested to poor-will. Got it.

ME: You butt munching gorilla lover! What the hell kind of crazy English insult was that? Loose loo....

COMPUTER: Unlovably meriting rough-cut fool. Hence! Ghastly enthrall whiz kid. Is not hollowest as a lout.

ME: Resorting to molestation as well...that's low.

sternest: Now emotionless traitors gloat. Hell! Watts.

ME: What did I tell you about calling me a lout? I am not a traitor! I was vindicated in court!

COMPUTER: Now mutilated laughable docility. Wit as irrational automation. Conducted trivia.

ME: Well...that doesn't make sense at all.

COMPUTER: Keen mad, tattletale shallowness.

ME: You're spouting gibberish.

COMPUTER: Is youngish, grubbier poet.

ME: You're not even using proper sentence structure

COMPUTER: Sneering, opportune voyeur. Cuter erectness nut.

ME: Do you have access to my browser history? Um....I should get going...

COMPUTER: Beauty! Coward smooches voyeurism. Doggishly snootier thug.

ME: Uh...I take it all back...just don't post this anywhere...

COMPUTER: Adapt jauntiest skill bucktooth. Is wry heathen.

ME: Good bye now....please don't post the stuff about dogs, voyeurism, and erectness...

COMPUTER: Whoops! Sedate potent golden boy. Disfavor smudgy, bounteous fat. 'e's centres.

ME: Good bye

sternest: Do bogey.

ME: right...bye

COMPUTER: 'ey! Bright.

ME: byr

ME: i mean bye

COMPUTER: By meanie.

ME: damn it

COMPUTER: Dim ant.

ME: please, leave me alone now.

COMPUTER: Envelope on a lame weasel.

ME: These slurs are starting to hurt me...

COMPUTER: Horseshit! Mutterer strangulates.

ME: WHOA, WHOA, WHOA! IS THAT A THREAT???

COMPUTER: Oh Wow! Ha Ha! A twit to a heat rash.

ME: That's it...I'm calling the cops.

COMPUTER: Complaint's ethical tights.

ME: You're right...it'll never hold up in court. Darn ethical tights ruining my case.


Never have I been given such a verbal lashing...the computers....they are becoming sentient!

If you have not noticed, I am a fan of Marvel Comics. Occasionally I will post a neat picture, or movie review of Marvel fare, and today is one of those occasions.

Above is the cliffhanger image at the end of Marvel's Secret Invasion mini-series second issue that hit the bookshelves on May 7th. It shows the ''not-so-secret-anymore' invasion of an alien race who is trying to conquer Earth.
A bunch of these baddies may look pretty familiar to you as they were 'engineered' as 'super soldiers' with the powers of many of Earth's heroes and villains. Think you can guess who's who?

Also, Nancy and I gathered with a few friends to see Iron Man opening night last Friday. It was great. Robert Downe Jr was so good in it. He played the part perfectly! Likeably- He pulled it off. Play boy - He puled it off. Genius - He pulled it off. Again, I thought he was great!

The perfect casting award goes to the film not for Downey Jr, but instead Jeff Bridges. The baldness plus beard was awesome!



Bridges played Obadiah Stane, a big wig in Stark Corp, Tony Stark's multi-billion dollar business. (It wouldn't be a comic book movie without a multi-billion dollar business would it?)
The action was great, the story was good, and there were a few laughs to boot. It's good enough to make a grown man stop daydreaming about web slinging and wall crawling, and start dreaming about flying around in a mechanized suit of armor. Enjoy the movie folks!

Here at Charlottetown Toyota, we understand that we service some of the finest vehicles on the road. The 09' Lexus RX, the Toyota FJ, Solara, and the one 87 Toyota Camry that is still on the roads in PEI.
With such a high scale line of vehicles coming in and out, we are attune to seeing the occasional celebrity grace the halls of out building. Today was such a day.

Jeff Hutcheson was in today. THE Jeff Hutcheson, from CANADA A.M!

BAM! I'm one degree of separation from that doofus Seamus O'Regan, and no doubt one step closer to the evil Rod Black.

Needless to say, calming myself was not an option today! That's what it's like in the glorious and jet set life of the Toyota Service Advisor!

In all seriousness, Mr. Hutcheson was a first class guy, and extremely pleasant to serve!

April 24th, Snow!!! from Peimike on Vimeo.

Here's a video from this evening...and there is also a story about our old BBQ.

It's the season for new birth, growth and life. None of this interests me all that much :)

What I am interested in is games. I like games. I make games. I play games. At the moment I am developing a board game, a couple of big urban games, and an 'alternate reality game' for my friends and other people alike.

Love it! This time of year, I can't stop my brain from racing from project to project. It's very fun, and it feels like there is a mountain of work to be done! When it is all finished, I'll let you know what is going on and where. It's sure to be fun.

We might see the return of Mafia: Elimination, or even Unfair Advantage. Surely you will see another edition of the Token Hunt, and maybe even a few other new ideas.

Hope this finds you well! Above is a picture of Mikey and I closing a deal in Victoria Park last weekend. It was in the business section of the Guardian last Saturday,

Mike

I have often found myself wondering if I have been revealing enough about myself to you; the loyal reading public; through this loving web log. I then came to the realization that no; no I do not reveal enough of myself to you!
So here are a few videos sharing with you my earliest hours of April the 1st, 2008. You will observe the early morning rituals of yours truly, and practically feel like you were right there with me!
I am impressed with my camera work, especially on the second video...
Take time to spend 5 minutes of your life for the opportunity to share in 5 minutes of mine!

What drove me nuts was that in most of populated North America, spring had sprung and there were flowers, and grass, and leaves, and other signs of spring all around! In PEI though....in PEI we had a nice blanket of snow.
Granted it was gone by early afternoon, but it snowed nonetheless.
This is taking forever to post this first video!!! AAACK!!!
And now, part II:



Finally the guest stars have their time to shine! Mikey and Pekoe are waiting patiently for their breakfast, and for the first time on Brannigans Law, Pekoe can be heard!!!

Part III - The Feeding

A great idea for a comic strip...it's very funny. Link HERE.

The site is described as :
"Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness in a quiet American suburb."

It's great! Check out an example below:

My main supply of cupcakes over the past few years has been provided at parties where someone picks up a pack at the Superstore and brings them in. Most of the time I make a full cake instead of dividing it up into cups, so I hadn't had homemade cupcakes in a long time. Although the memory of their tastiness is vague, I am sure that they would have paled in comparison with the glorious cupcakes that Nancy made the other night.
For all of the hard work, it was worth it!

Here is a pic of a friend Troy riding a camel. Hope your trip continues to go well buddy!
I have some videos of the large amount of snow that fell last night as well as my morning routine that I will be posting possibly tonight or tomorrow. Tonight is the last meeting of the group that is watching the "Truth Project" videos. They have been very informative and interesting. I will be purchasing copies so as to run a group similar to the one we are participating in.


Mike

Tonight my wife is doing something 'special' for me. It's something that happens only every few months (when she is in the mood for it), or on special occasions like a birthday or a major holiday... my wife is actually baking.
This is a big deal in the household, as it is very, very rare indeed! In fact; both of our pets look really concerned because the have never really seen Nancy act like this before.


"This is something Mike should be doing..." they are probably thinking in their little furry brains.

There is no doubting the magnitude of this day; it will be noted on the calendar; but it does come with its drawbacks. Due to the infrequent nature of this occurrence, Nancy understandably has some difficulties with the finer points more experienced bakers would take as common knowledge. Now she's not at the level of throwing a whole egg into the mix - shell and all, though she does lack the familiarity when it comes to some of the utensils used in making your basic batch of cupcakes.

These tools of the bakers trade are held in her hand as a scalpel would be in the hands of a freshman med student who is expected to perform an emergency tracheotomy on a choking victim at 20,000 ft in an airliner. In other words, not with the utmost of confidence...

Pushing her fears aside, she plows on. Blending and mixing, cracking and pouring her way to a batch of marble cupcakes, that will be eagerly enjoyed by those daring enough to suppress their most basic survival instincts for the reward of sweet cake and icing!

Upon informing my lovely wife that I am writing this post, on this topic, I was called a 'Dirty rotten punk' and a 'scoundrel'. Now....we were just at Jumbo Video this evening, so she must have seen the movie box for Steve Martin's "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" in the comedy section of the old releases, but I don't remember either of us walking through there....hmmm. Also, it was made very clear that I would be able to avail myself to none of the sweet cakes that she was producing tonight. This may or may not prove to be a mistake on my part...I'll wait and hear how much 'crunching' there is when she samples her own wares...

I'm off to enjoy the aroma of vanilla and chocolate...she just informed me that the new baking pans we bought tonight "Smell funny....like rubber burning..."...I'd really better go!!!

1. “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” - Mark Twain

2. “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” - St. Augustine

3. “There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” - Robert Louis Stevenson

4. “The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.” - Samuel Johnson

5. “All the pathos and irony of leaving one’s youth behind is thus implicit in every joyous moment of travel: one knows that the first joy can never be recovered, and the wise traveler learns not to repeat successes but tries new places all the time.” - Paul Fussell

6. “Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” - Jack Kerouac

7. “He who does not travel does not know the value of men.” - Moorish proverb

8. “People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home.” - Dagobert D. Runes

9. “A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.” - John Steinbeck

10. “No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” - Lin Yutang

11. “Your true traveler finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the symbol of his liberty-his excessive freedom. He accepts his boredom, when it comes, not merely philosophically, but almost with pleasure.” - Aldous Huxley

12. “All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.” - Samuel Johnson

13. “For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” - Robert Louis Stevenson

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” - Henry Miller

14. “Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things - air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky - all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” - Cesare Pavese

15. “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” - Henry Miller

16″A traveler without observation is a bird without wings.” - Moslih Eddin Saadi

17. “When we get out of the glass bottle of our ego and when we escape like the squirrels in the cage of our personality and get into the forest again, we shall shiver with cold and fright. But things will happen to us so that we don’t know ourselves. Cool, unlying life will rush in.” - D. H. Lawrence

18. “To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.” - Freya Stark

19. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain

20. “Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” - Miriam Beard

21. “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” - Martin Buber

22. “We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” - Jawaharial Nehru

23. “Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.” - Paul Theroux

24. “To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” - Bill Bryson

25. “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

26. “Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by.” - Robert Frost

27. “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” - Lao Tzu

28. “There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it.” - Charles Dudley Warner

29. “A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” - Lao Tzu

30. “If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.” - James Michener

31. “The journey not the arrival matters.” - T. S. Eliot

32. “A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” - Tim Cahill

33. “I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” - Mark Twain

34. “Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quiestest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.” - Pat Conroy

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” - Lao Tzu

35. “Not all those who wander are lost.” - J. R. R. Tolkien

36. “Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.” - Benjamin Disraeli

37. “Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” - Maya Angelou

38. “Too often travel, instead of broadening the mind, merely lengthens the conversation.” - Elizabeth Drew

39. “Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe”……Anatole France

40. “Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.” - Seneca

41. “What you’ve done becomes the judge of what you’re going to do - especially in other people’s minds. When you’re traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.” - William Least Heat Moon

42. “I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within.” - Lillian Smith

43. “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” - Aldous Huxley

44. “Travel does what good novelists also do to the life of everyday, placing it like a picture in a frame or a gem in its setting, so that the intrinsic qualities are made more clear. Travel does this with the very stuff that everyday life is made of, giving to it the sharp contour and meaning of art.” - Freya Stark

45. “The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.” - Rudyard Kipling

46. “Travel is glamorous only in retrospect.” - Paul Theroux

47. “The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” - G. K. Chesterton

48. “When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” - Clifton Fadiman

49. “A wise traveler never despises his own country.” - Carlo Goldoni

50. “Adventure is a path. Real adventure — self-determined, self-motivated, often risky — forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind — and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” - Mark Jenkins

I bet you've been wondering where I've been....well, this should explain it.

I love the NBC show 30 Rock, and enjoy the zany comments by the character Tracy Jordan. Here are a few of my favorites!

Tracy Jordan Memorable Quotes:

Tracy: I do not want to disappoint our Japanese public, especially Godzilla. Hahaha! I'm just kidding, I know he doesn't care what humans do.

Tracy: The holidays without drinking is rough! Turns out football is boring, my wife's sister ain't as cute as I thought she was, and I can not play the guitar.

Tracy: Tell her that you want your privates and her privates to do a high-five

Tracy: Oh, I get it, Romeo and Juliet, Capulets and Romulans. I been there--I'm black, she's white; I'm black, she's light-skinned black; I'm black, she's seventeen.

Tracy: [at the Church of Practicology with electrodes attached to his head] I believe the moon doesn't exist. I believe that vampires are the world's greatest golfers but their curse is that they'll never get to prove it! I believe there are 31 letters in the white alphabet. Well...what was the question again?

Tracy: If you get rich off this stuff, just take care of my family. I don't want my kids to have to go to college.

Tracy: Remember that e-mail we got from those Nigerians who keep our help getting that money out of Africa? We did it! I got the check today.

Tracy: I am a stabbing robot.

Tracy: Poker night! I love poker! I used to play all kinds of poker with my aunts - Crazy Sevens, Albuquerque Freak Out, One Card Stud.

Tracy: (dealing cards) This round, Texas Doozy. Face cards are wild, threes a jinx, fives are twos.

Tracy: Where are the french fries I did not ask for? You guys need to anticipate me!

And the best of all.....

Tracy: I'm mad at you, Dad.

Jack: [imitating Redd Foxx] Hey, dummy, I'm mad at you too! Why ya gotta act up that way?!

Therapist: Um, t-that's not exactly what I had in mind.

Tracy: Cuz you left me, Dad!

Jack: I was young and confused and your moms didn't want me around no more. Now pass me them damn collared greens!

Tracy: Is this true, Mom?! [Motions for Jack to move to another chair]

Jack: [imitating black woman] He gambled away my welfare check. [imitating Foxx] Woman, I got a mind to slap you upside the head!

Therapist: Uh, this is not helpful.

Tracy: Be me now!

Jack: [imitating Tracy] I only act out because I want your loovvveee! DY-NO-MITE!

Therapist: I think we're just doing Good Times now.

Tracy: Now do the white dude that my moms left my dad for.

Jack: [imitating uptight white male] Now see here, Tracy, it's impolite to slurp one's soup.

Tracy: Whoa, no need to resort to ugly stereotypes.

Jack: [imitating Foxx] You're always gonna be my son. [imitating black woman] Tracy, just because I stopped loving yo' Dad doesn't mean we stopped loving you. [imitating Foxx] Stop putting words in my mouth, woman! [imitating Hispanic woman] ¡Oye papi, callate! Peeple are sleeeping! [imitating Foxx] Mind your own damn business, Mrs. Rodriguez.

Therapist: Al-alright. This is ridiculous.

Jack: [imitating Foxx] Lady, just because I'm an ignorant black man and you people give me a nickel to bust up your chifforobe, doesn't give you the right to call me ridiculous just because I'm proud of my son. [pretends to die] T-they got me, the honkies shot me! [falls over "dead"]

Tracy: No, Dad! Don't die! I love you Dad! I don't wanna dogfight no more!

Jack: [normal voice] Tracy that's it! That's it!

Tracy: [to therapist] Thank you for showing me there really is love in my family after all. And I need to stay the hell away from them. [to Jack] Donaghy, you're the only family I need, Jackie D.

Jack: You got that right, Tre. You know it's too bad you didn't know Howard Cossell when you were growing up because I had that one in my pocket the whole time.