Month: October 2012

The Whiny One

This guy needs a hug. He sounds like Rob Ford’s hurt inner child on guitar.

On the positive side, he does a half-decent job channeling solo Paul Simon with his voice. On the minus side, I can’t help but be reminded of comedian Nato Green’s observation about the greatest failing of liberals: “We’d rather be smug than win”.

The Bouncy One

Imagine Randy Newman deciding to get a little more funky and then choosing to sing about Toronto instead of Los Angeles, and you have Len’s tribute to Accordion City. In 1999, Len put out a great gem of a summer single, Steal My Sunshine, and while I’m not sure they can top that, it’s nice to see that they’re still at it, with a new album titled It’s Easy If You Try. It’s also a better Toronto-promoting video than a lot of the stuff produced by the clowns at Toronto’s tourism department.

Sure, it’s easy to dismiss Len as a one-hit wonder. I prefer to call them a fun-hit wonder, and I’d be ecstatic if I ever put out a single like Steal My Sunshine, which holds a special place in my party and driving tunes playlists.

Crazy Len Close Encounter Fun Fact: One night when I first started playing accordion on the street (back around 2000), I was busking outside Amato’s Pizza on Queen West when Esthero walked by. She asked if I knew how to play Steal My Sunshine, and I responded by playing and singing the song’s chorus. She pulled out her mobile phone, made a call, pointed the phone at me and said, “Play it for Len,” and I did. I heard some great laughter on the other end of the line.

Today, Saturday, October 20th, is Small Business Saturday in Canada! Show your support for the economy, great service and your neighbours by showing support for your local small business. After all:

• Small businesses are responsible for 42% of Canada’s private sector GDP;
• Approximately 5 million Canadians are employed by small businesses, which is 48% of Canada’s private sector labour force; and
• Between 2001-2010, over 47% of new jobs were created by small businesses in Canada.

It’s a pretty day today in Accordion City — what better time to discover (or rediscover) your neighbourhood’s gems?

Found via Valerie Stachurski.

The question is: how can I get my hands on some of these for my upcoming birthday party?

I don’t think it would be right to end this post without Have a Drink on Me, off Back in Black…

Joshua K. Pinney’s plan was a simple one — so simple that it was foolproof! With a another man’s stolen picture ID and the clever disguise pictured above, he would go to that man’s bank branch, request a new debit card, and then clean out his bank account. What could go wrong?

Here’s a quick slice of life from last night in Tampa, when the Lady Friend took me to a Bed Bath and Beyond. As usual, the most interesting stuff is in the “Beyond” section, where they’re getting a serious head-start on Hanukkah this year, and I do mean serious.

If you’re a “member of the tribe” who’s long wished for over-the-top yet cute holiday displays like the gentiles’, your prayers have been answered in the form of these Hanukkah bears and spinning dreidel display. It’s so cute that I’d get it, even though I lost my honourary membership in the divorce:

There are also a lot of baking kits for things like Hanukkah cupcakes and Star of David cake pops, but you’ll probably get the most use out of this latke server, which you can use any time of the year.

Here’s your funny video of the day: a guy whose primary language is German — but who’s also mastered the fine art of swearing in English — lets his friend record a video of his bold attempt to jump into a frozen pool. His buildup to the great event is fantastic, and it seems that his plan was to break through the ice. That didn’t quite work out.

The results are high-larious, and he appears unharmed.

In his own words: “Ow, mein arsch!”

By now, you’ve probably heard of Felix Baumgartner’s record-breaking skydive. In case you didn’t watch the simulcast, here’s the highlight reel:

Baumgartner’s dive looks a lot like a deleted scene from the movie Star Trek: Generations. The film was supposed to open with Chekov and Scotty waiting at the landing site for Captain Kirk’s latest retirement-crisis thrill, orbital skydiving. Here’s a low-quality version of the scene:

Kirk’s skydiving suit doesn’t look all that different from Baumgartner’s. Here’s Kirk:

…and here’s Baumgartner:

Kirk, again, from the back:

…and Baumgartner, from the back:

Here’s Kirk with his chute deployed:

…and here’s Baumgartner with his:

And finally, Kirk on the ground:

…and here’s Baumgartner in roughly the same pose on terra firma:

Here’s a “same pose, different context” pair of shots. In this shot, Kirk is talking about the next orbital skydive he wants to perform, a triple-elliptical where you do three orbits of the earth before re-entering the atmosphere. That sounds pretty cool:

…and here’s Baumgartner waving to the millions of people watching him:

While making the dive, Baumgartner went past the speed of sound (about 1200 km/h or 770 mph). Chekov notes at one point, after hearing his sonic boom, that Captain Kirk has “crossed the sound barrier”:

While the orbital skydiving scene was excised from the film (which was already weighed down with too many subplots), it’s included in the special edition disc, and someone saw fit to post it to YouTube. Here’s a cleaner, longer transfer, complete with introduction and background material:

So, while Baumgartner is due many congratulations, remember this: Captain Kirk did it first!