I Voted For Someone Who Won't Win

Yep. My first federal election ever, and I voted for someone who has absolutely no chance of carrying my riding. I guess that's what happens when you live in the most Liberal riding in Canada, in an election called by the incumbent Prime Minister to get a majority government instead of a minority one.

In the last election, the incumbent MP from my riding (Irwin Cotler,) won by a staggering 18,000 votes. His conservative opponent, Rafael Tzoubari, seems to be gaining some ground on him, but it will still be a blowout election. Even a dog could run as a Liberal in this riding and still win.

Anyways voting in my first election, however pointless it was, was still an experience. I didn't vote Liberal, but my one vote may make a 0.00001% difference in the total popular vote, or something like that.

Check back later tonight for some updates as the results come in.

My Pick Results

Carolina + 1.5 @ Tampa Bay, 1:00pm (Right)
I said: Take the Bucs. Final Score: Tampa Bay 27- Carolina 3

St. Louis +13 @ Washington, 1:00pm (Right)
I said: Take St. Louis. Final Score: St. Louis 19 - Washington 17

Cincinnati +9 @ New York J, 1:00pm (Right)
I said: Take New York. Final Score: New York 26 - Cincinnati - 14

Oakland +7 @ New Orleans, 1:00pm (Right)
I said: Take New Orleans. Final Score: New Orleans 34 - Oakland 3

Miami +3 @ Houston, 1:00pm (Wrong)
I said: Take Houston. Final Score: Houston 29 - Miami 28

Baltimore +4 @ Indianapolis, 1:00pm (Wrong)
I said: Take the Ravens. Final Score: Indianapolis 31 - Baltimore 3

Jacksonville +3 @ Denver, 4:05pm (Wrong)
I said: Take Denver. Final Score: Jacksonville 24, Denver 17

Philadelphia -4.5 @ San Francisco, 4:15pm (Right)
I said: take Philadelphia. Final Score: Philadelphia 40, San Francsico 26

Dallas -4.5 @ Arizona, 4:15pm (Wrong)
I said: Take Dallas. Final Score: Arizona 30 - Dallas 24

Green Bay +1 @ Seattle, 4:15pm (Right)
I said: Take Green Bay. Final Score: Green Bay 27 - Seattle 17

New England +4.5 @ San Diego, 8:15pm (Right)
I said: go with the Chargers. Final Score: San Diego 30 - New England 10

New York G -7.5 @ Cleveland, 8:30pm Monday (Right)
I said: Look for Cleveland. Final Score: Cleveland 35 - New York 14

Mise-Au-Jeu Picks
1. New York J -9 over Cincinnati (Right)
2. Philadelphia -4.5 over San Francisco (Right)
3. Denver -3 over Jacksonville (Wrong)
4. Houston -3 over Miami (Wrong)
5. New Orleans -7 over Oakland (Right)
6. St. Louis +13 over Washington (Right)

Weekly Record: (8-4)
Mise-Au-Jeu Record (4-2)

Picking Apart The Spreads

Told you I'd update more often. I figure I spend most saturday afternoons at home, doing work or whatever, so I can spend a few minutes every Saturday picking apart the NFL spreads, analyzing who I think will cover it. For the purpose of these picks, I'll be using an average of the five gambling sites Yahoo! Sports odds uses.

A quick analysis of spreads, for those of you who are noobs. When a team is favored by 6, they are listed as "-6", whereas the underdog would be "+6," so in the below game, Tamap Bay is projected to beat Carolina by 1.5 points. How is that possible? It's not, teams can't score half-points, but spreads are generally set with fractional points so no tie can be argued. (If the spread is -4, and the favorite wins by 4, no one wins or loses money.)

So here they are (all games on Sunday unless otherwise noted):

Carolina + 1.5 @ Tampa Bay, 1:00pm
The Panthers are coming off a week 5 thrashing against the lowly Chiefs (34-0,) while the Bucs lost a heartbreaker at home. Look for the Bucs to catch the Panthers sleeping and win this game. With spreads as low as these, if you win the game, you usually beat the spread. Take the Bucs.

St. Louis +13 @ Washington, 1:00pm
I'm not even going to get into why and how the Rams are so bad, because they're not. Granted, the Rams are 0-4 while the Redskins are a surprising 4-1, it looks like this game should be a Redskins blowout. But the Rams do still have their pride. With Marc Bulger back at QB and Steven Jackson ready to get back to his old self, look for the Redskins to take the game, but the Rams to keep it close. Take St. Louis.

Cincinnati +9 @ New York J, 1:00pm
The spread opened at something like 5.5, but with news that Ryan Fitzpatrick will be replacing Bengals QB Carson Palmer, it blew up. Look for the Bretts to blow away the Bengals in what will be enjoyable only for fans of the Jets (and Brett Favre fantasy owners.) Take New York.

Oakland +7 @ New Orleans, 1:00pm
Both of these teams are pretty bad, but in a close loss to Minnesota last Monday, the Saints proved their not as bad as people say they are. At least their better than the Raiders, so while this game might not be a Saints blowout, the Raiders are a lot worse than they've played this year. Take New Orleans.

Miami +3 @ Houston, 1:00pm
The Texans will avenge their loss to the Colts last week, and be the first team this season to stop the Dolphins wing formation. Take Houston.

Baltimore +4 @ Indianapolis, 1:00pm
I'm not just saying this because I'm a Texans fan, but the Colts are on the decline while the Ravens are rising. Should be a close game, so Take the Ravens.

Jacksonville +3 @ Denver, 4:05pm
The Broncos faced a tough defense last week against Tampa Bay, but look for them to step up their passing game against the Jags secondary. Who needs Scheffler, Young, and Royal? Take Denver.

Philadelphia -4.5 @ San Francisco, 4:15pm
The only reason the spread is so low is because the game is in San Francisco. I know the favourites aren't going to win every game this week, but in this game, you should definitely take Philadelphia.

Dallas -4.5 @ Arizona, 4:15pm
The Cards have a good passing attack, and Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald will light them up. The problem? The Cowboys have Tony Romo and Terrell Owens. Take Dallas.

Green Bay +1 @ Seattle, 4:15pm
This could go down as the game of the week. Both teams are desperate for a win, but the Packers are more desperate. Take Green Bay.

New England +4.5 @ San Diego, 8:15pm
I don't really want to pick this game, it seems too close, but I'll go with the Chargers, who need this game so Denver doesn't leap too far ahead in the race for the AFC West.

New York G -7.5 @ Cleveland, 8:30pm Monday
The Browns seem to be sinking this year, and could really use this win in the national spotlight against the Super Bowl champs. Look for Cleveland to keep it close.

With my weekly picks, I'm gonna do a new feature called "Mise Picks," which feature suggestions for those people who by Mise-Au-Jeu lottery tickets. To win a Mise-Au-Jeu, you pick a certain amount of times to cover the spread, and then lay down some money, from $2-$100. If you take three teams (the minimum,) you could win five times your bet. Four teams? Eight times your bet. Five teams? Twelve times your bet. And the maximum six teams? 25 times your bet. unfortunately, if just one of the teams you pick doesn't cover, you lose everything.

So here are the six teams most likely to cover, for you Mise-Au-Jeu fanatics:

Mise-Au-Jeu Picks
1. New York J -9 over Cincinnati
2. Philadelphia -4.5 over San Francisco
3. Denver -3 over Jacksonville
4. Houston -3 over Miami
5. New Orleans -7 over Oakland
6. St. Louis +13 over Washington

On A More Serious Note...

My past two posts have been me expressing my immaturity by posting two news headlines that could be interpreted as "dirty." What happened to all the serious posts? Election talk, commentary on sports, and even random ranting?

Maybe blogs aren't all serious, or some even serious at all, but there needs to be more than just "haha, look what I found!" posts, and that's where The Blender 2.0 comes in.

The layout will stay the same, but the blog will be updated with more consistency. I'm striving for at least one daily post, ranting about whatever is on my mind for that day. Other posts, such as "Video of the Day," and "Links I Occasionally Visit Sometimes," will be posted as often as I can, and even newer features will come to this blog. Once I think of them.

So that's it for now, keep coming back to check up on The Blender, comment, subscribe, and tell your friends.

Music Is My Aeroplane

Even though I haven't heard the Chili Peppers tune "Aeroplane" in quite some time, one of its lyrics seemed a fitting title for this post.

I often struggle to get settled down to do work, but what solves it? Music. If I'm in a bad mood what often cheers me up? Music. The right playlist can do wonders for my self-esteem, mood, and creativity. Lately it's been hip-hop and rap to get motivated to do something, Chili Peppers when I'm cruising through some studying, and Jack Johnson when I'm not in the best of moods.

Without music, my life would be useless, and I'd be perpetually stuck in my purgatoric feeling of nothingness, so I guess I owe music in general (and the internet and iTunes, which has made listening/obtaining music so much easier,) a big thank you.

Like Mohinder, I'm Transforming

For those of you who don't watch Heroes, start now. I'm not gonna get into the whole plot or whatever right now, but after an experiment gone wrong, one of the show's main protagonists, Mohinder Suresh, is transforming. As am I, but probably not in the same way.

Whereas Mohinder is a professor who now has super-human abilities, I'm a student who now is actually using his God-given abilities for once in his life. I'll admit it, I am a chronic underachiever, and have never really realized my full potential.

Is it possible I may have finally turned a corner? Maybe. I'm actually sutyding for once, even if my exam is in under 24 hours, it's a start. Better then going into exams completely unprepared, which i have done in the past, one of the reason I'm still at Dawson.

Anyways just needed a quick vent, maybe I'll come back and write some more after I'm doine studying. (Really?)

Links I Occasionally Visit Sometimes

I got bored, and figured this blog needed another gimmick. Something other than simple posts to attract viewers, not like it'll make a difference anyways though. I already have polls that are very under-used, but whatever. It's my blog and I can do what I want to.

I'll be honest, I don't know how many times I'll actually update this, will it be daily for a few days and then fall into a deep black hole like my "Video of The Day" thing? It's possible, highly possible actually, but for the fun of it I might as well at least give it a try.

So for the first time ever, on this blog, here are some links I occasionally visit sometimes:

Wordle

By either typing in a bunch of words, or simply pasting in a blog link, you can create amazing "word clouds" with this fun little tool. The more often you type a word, the more emphasis it puts on it in the "word cloud." Word Clouds are basically all the words in varying shapes and colours, which are sometimes put together in an extremely aesthetically-pleasing way. Check it out for yourself by clicking the name. Below is one of the "word clouds" I got after a bit of fiddling, when I put in the link to my blog. As you can see, the word "party" is pretty big, because I've used it so often in my recent politics-related columns (Liberal Party, Democratic Party, every time I mention either, it registers.) Please check this out for yourself, you won't regret it.

Falling Sand

On this site, digital sand, water, and much more falls at a rate you so choose. You can draw walls to stop certain sands form falling, and it'll eventually pile up. You can even pour oil on the sand and then set a flame to blow it up. The options are plentiful, and it's actually really fun. A bit childish but it's a good way to pass the time... for a couple of minutes. Click the name to check it out.

Cyanide & Happiness

Cyanide & Happiness is a webcomic I discovered a little while back. Updated daily, it's awfully offensive, racist, and downright horrible in every way. Even though I consider myself neither racist or offensive, the comic itself is usually pretty funny. Check it out, but a warning: some of the comics are filled with jokes about some awful things... enjoy.

This may not be their best one, but I was too lazy to search for a classic.


So that's about it for my Links I Occasionally Visit Sometimes, or for short, because it takes a long time to type sometimes, LIOVS. Good day. Or night. Whatever.

I Need A Job

Wow this is pretty bad. Things must be getting rough is this is the second "wow it's really come to this..." kind of posts. But that's what my life seems to be lately. Last night I reached a point of boredom/insomnia so sever I started reading the seventh Harry Potter again. And now, in the first day of my new cell phone plan, it's taken something stupid like this to make me realize how much I need a job.

There are many drawbacks to not having a credit card, (random, but I'm going somewhere with this,) one of which is deeply affecting me now, and ironically, it's making me less independent, which in turn is making me want to find a job... to become more independent?

Let me explain further. I'm 19. I live at home. My mom pays for my cell phone. My mom pays for my cell phone plan, and even though I don't pay for food or rent (while eating at home,) I delve into my bank account for anythign I need to buy outside the house. I recently bought a Xbox 360 and a couple games/accesories, which took a large chunk out of my already low chequing account.

Why am I sharing financial information with my blog readers (however few of you there are)? Simple. This chequing account in particular is reserved solely for money I make of my own accord, by working. I've worked at a summer camp for the past three summers, done some freelance journalism here and there, and worked at TCBY for a year... over a year ago.

So if I truly want to be independent, or at leats be as independent as possible while still living at home, then I definitely need a job. And you know what it took for me to realize this? My mother, (who has some sort of power over my cell phone plan that forbids me from changing anything about it,) tells me that until I get a job, I won't have caller ID.

Are you kidding me? Caller ID is insanely useful and almost essential to anyone who has a cellphone, and the lack of it makes my MY10 play almost useless. But despite this extremely stupid decision of hers, it does have its benefits.

I might actually get a job now.

Has It Really Come To This?

It's 2:32 on a Saturday Night. I have to wake up in about 6 hours to get ready for a Lacrosse game, even though I have absolutely no idea how I'm getting there. I am in no way, shape, or form, tired at all, but I know I must sleep. I figure if I get under my covers, eventually I'll drift into sleep, thereby accumulating the rest I need for tomorrow's early start.

So what do I do, just go under the covers and get it done with? No. My attention span is too short. I'm not tired, so I'd get bored too quickly. So I pace around my room for something to do in bed (get your minds out of the gutter.) Sports Illustrated? I have a stack in my room...nah actually, read them all. Maxim? Ditto. My new Houston Texans coffee table book? too big too hold. The Beatles' Anthology? Too many words on one page. An almanac? I know I'm a trivia nerd, but way too ADD for that right now. It sued to be when I'd get bored like this I'd resort to watching movies in my bed, but my portable DVD player is broken.

Gameboy? Nah I may be immature, but I've had enough of Pokemon to last me for a while. So what do I resort to? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Yes. You read that right.

I re-read this book sometime last year, and getting back into it was great, except the times where I'd start reading at, let's say 1:30, and finish at 4:00. The day I got the book I started reading around 4:00pm (I was at camp.) And stopped only to eat between then and when I finished sometime late that night. I guess one could say I'm a bit fo a freak, but once I get into something like this I can't put it down.

So once again I'm about to dive into the black hole that is Harry Potter. Hopefully I'll be asleep by four.

UPDATE: Five minutes after I originally wrote this post and I can't even keep my "A.D.D." in check enough to star treading it. I guess I have to suck it up or I'll be awake all night. Sucks.

Anne Hathaway Is Really Hot

So this post is a bit of a change from the last few politics-related ones, but every once in a while I feel the need to revert to my chauvinistic alter-ego and vent over how hot a certain someone is. I mean, look at her:

I mean that is two-syllable-damn worthy. And it's not just the looks. I'm not claiming to know her on a personal level, but based on her appearance on SNL tonight, her humour is almost Tina Fey-esque. She seems smart, funny, and she's also really good-looking. So I guess all that makes her overtake Erin the Cheerleader as the blog's (and by definition, my,) new celebrity crush.

On a semi-related note, SNL was actually pretty funny tonight. (Yes I stayed home tonight, excuse me for having to wake up in seven hours.) It seems that the show has taken a turn for the better since the abysmal Michael Phelps premiere. James Franco's episode was amazing, clips from the Anna Farris episode seemed promising, and tonight's episode was great as well.

Of course, one of the main reasons for SNL's recently-rejuvenated success is the semi-return of Tina Fey, who plays her clone, Sarah Palin. Every skit she's in is extremely well written, such as tonight's where they made fun of the vice-presidential debate. They even made fun of Joe Biden, which was a first.

Anyways, I'm not going to analyze or review the whole episode, because I'm way too lazy, but I just wanted to get a few things out there. Good night.

The Countdown Continues...

The Communist Part of Canada has not bothered running in my electoral district of Montreal since the 2000 election, where they finished in 7th out of 8 parties, receiving 140 votes compared to the Liberals 33,118. It's a wonder why anyone even bothers to run against the Liberals here, but oh well. Here's the exact table just for your information, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Canadian federal election, 2000
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Irwin Cotler	33,118
	Progressive Conservative	Stephane Gelgoot	2,489
	Bloc Québécois	Jean-Sebastien Houle	1,740
	Canadian Alliance	Alex Gabanski	1,444
	New Democrat	Maria Pia Chávez	1,034
	Green	Jean-Claude Balu	681
	Communist	Judith Chafoya	140
	Natural Law	Ena Kahn	122

As I've said in my post degrading the Marxist-Leninist Party, I do not agree with Communism in every way. I'm not completely tied to the Liberal Party just because of my riding, or my religion, but I am most definitely NOT even thinking about voting for the Communist Party and their Mont-Royal representative Antonio Artuso. In the 2006 federal election, the Commies, led by Miguel Figueroa, finished in 11th place, behind the Marijuana Party, the Canadian Action Party, and the Christian Heritage Party. Here are the 2006 federal stats, once again, courtesy of Wikipedia:

After the elimination of the Communist Party from the parties I'm seriously considering voting for in ten days, five candidates remain in my riding:

Tyrell Alexander (Green Party of Canada)
Irwin Cotler (Liberal Party of Canada)
Maryse Lavallée (Bloc Québécois)
Nicolas Thibodeau (New Democratic Party)
Rafael Tzoubari (Conservative Party of Canada)

And what a coincidence, they're the representatives from the five parties that are considered "major" and were allowed to debate in the Leader's Debate on Thursday. So now that I got the two parties that should not be taken seriously in the election at all, much less my riding, out of the way, I can concentrate on doing serious research.

Check back often.

Electoral Map Update

With Obama having leads in important swing states Florida, Missouri, Nevada, Virginia, and Obama gaining on McCain in Ohio, the election looks more and more likely to swing in Obama's favour. Check out this article for more info.

Here's the newest update of the Electoral map, courtesy of CNN:

(Click the picture for a more interactive approach.)

According to this map, 160 electoral votes are "Safe Obama (Dark Blue)," 90 "Lean Obama (Light Blue)," 99 are "tossups (Yellow)," 64 "Lean McCain (Pink)," and 125 are "Safe McCain (Red)."

This brings the Safe/Lean score to a 250- 189 lead for Obama. 270 electoral votes are needed to clinch the presidency.

So what happens if Obama wins the four states listed at the top of the article, all of which he is currently leading? 306 electoral votes go to Obama, with only 232 left for McCain, if he wins the remaining "tossup states" (Colorado, Wisonsin, Ohio, and New Hampshire.) This would give Obama the biggest election victory since incumbent Bill Clinton's 379-159 over Bob Dole.

I don't think Obama will win that cleanly, but as the first vice-presidential debate looms, it looks like McCain is falling into a deeper and deeper hole.

The Great Debate...Debate?

Canada is stupid. That's not something you hear too often, what with our average test scores consistently higher than that of our neighbors to the south, the U.S. So why is Canada stupid? Because whoever is in charge of scheduling decided to air the first English debate between the five prime-ministerial candidates tomorrow night, at the exact same time that vice presidential candidates Tina Fey...er, Sarah Palin, and Joe Biden face off.

OR

So which debate should we watch? Well, if you're American, the answer is easy. You watch your own debate, you don't care about a country with one tenth your population. But Canadians have a different issue.

On one hand, this is the only real chance Canadian voters have to see their Candidates face off, with Green Party candidate Elizabeth May sneaking into the battle with Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Conservative), Stephane Dion (Liberal), Jack Layton (NDP), and Gilles Duceppe (Bloc.)

On the one hand, the two vice-presidential candidates seem to bring a much more interesting debate to the table, even if Canadians have no effect on the outcome.

From an Associated Press article:

Green party leader Elizabeth May is urging Canadians to pay attention to their own election.

"It's extremely unfortunate timing," May said of the schedule. "I'm hoping that people will decide to watch the Canadian debate live and check out YouTube later for whatever exciting moments there are between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin."

Sorry Ms. May, but the American debate is too intriguing to pass up. Myself, I'll be tivoing the Canadian debate while I watch the American one. With Joe Biden, who can't seem to stop saying dumb things in the press, ("Hillary Clinton is as qualified, if not more qualified, than me to be vice president,") and Sarah Palin continuing to perform extremely poorly in interviews, the dumb things said in this debate could be very Youtube or SNL-worthy quotes.

G-d bless Tivo.

The Countdown Begins

So I got the MY10 plan. Chose my ten friends and everything, (well 8 friends, and my mom and sister,) and am waiting for it to be activated Sunday. Unfortunately I don't get a new phone with it, like I thought I would. The guy at Rogers said to wait it out a couple more months until they can bribe me with an upgrade. Oh well... that's not what this countdown is for.

There is less than two weeks till the Canadian Elections, which means less than two weeks until I have to decide who to vote for. Unfortunately, I cannot sell my vote. So in the next 14 days, through this blog, I will eliminate candidates one by one untill I have someone to vote for.

For a recap, here are the seven candidates running in my riding, Mont-Royal:

Tyrell Alexander (Green Party of Canada)
Antonio Artuso (Communist Party of Canada)
Irwin Cotler (Liberal Party of Canada)
Diane Johnston (Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada)
Maryse Lavallée (Bloc Québécois)
Nicolas Thibodeau (New Democratic Party)
Rafael Tzoubari (Conservative Party of Canada)

Which brings the grand total of candidates to seven. With less than two weeks until the actual election, every two days I will be eliminating one candidate, starting with today. And again on the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, and last but not least, the 13th, when I will reveal my vote.

One important thing to remember while voting is to vote not only for which party you want to win, but also the candidates. Though the MPs representing specific ridings don't have as much importance as similar candidates in American politics, it is still important to agree with the Ideologies of the party, Prime Ministerial candidate, and MP candidate.

So who am I eliminating today? The Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada.

Forced to register under that name by the Government of Canada (you cannot have a party name that could be confused with another,) they prefer their "official" title; Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist.)

The fact of the matter is, they are a communist party. Do I at all agree with any communist ideologies? Not even close. There are so many things about Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin's ideologies that I disagree with I don't even want to get into why. Maybe another time. And even if I did vote for them, what does my vote accomplish? In the 2006 federal election, the Marxist-Leninist party finished with 0.028% of the vote in Mont-Royal. That's 98 votes out of 34,251.

I honestly think that if I started my own political party, became accredited, and was acknowledged as a real party by Canada in my riding, I could find more than 98 people to vote for me. Obviously, communist ideologies don't translate too well with the Liberal-minded Mont-Royal voters.

Oh yeah that reminds me. The results from the 2006 election, just for reference:

Canadian federal election, 2006
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Irwin Cotler	22,457
	Conservative	Neil Martin Drabkin	6,150
	New Democrat	Nicolas R. Thibodeau	2,479
	Bloc Québécois	Guillaume Dussault	2,035
	Green	Damien Pichereau	1,302
	Marxist-Leninist	Diane Johnston	98

(courtesy of Wikipedia)

Now even though the Liberals clearly dominate the riding, that doesn't mean Cotler automatically gets my vote. Like I've said many times over, I don't know all that much about the candidates just yet, and will be doing my research in the next fortnight. (Sweet, always wanted to sue that word before [thank you Demetri Martin.])

Back to the Marxists-Leninists. Diane Johnston is running again this year, and all the power to her, even if she has literally no chance of winning, much less getting even one percent of the vote.

Onto the national stage:

The Marxist-Leninists, led once again by Sandra Smith, finished 9th in the popular vote in 2006, behind such powerhouse parties as the Progressive Canadian Party and the Marijuana Party. With three times as many candidates (69) as the PCP (25) and MP (23), the Marxist-Leninist party still managed to end up with about 5000 less votes than the Progressive Canadians and a couple hundred shy of the Marijuana Party.

The only benefit I can think of for someone with similar views to actually vote for them instead of abstaining would be sheer volume. Surely 104 sounds better than 98 or so. "The more the merrier" should be their motto, because with each vote, a teeny (very teeny) bit of credibility is added to their party.

Anyways that's it for now, sorry for the lack of blog updates, I've been quite busy with the Jewish Holidays. Keep checking back for more of The Blender as well as the next time (Friday) I take a candidate off my list.

Recap: The Marxist-Leninist Party was removed from the list. The party is headed by Sandra Smith nationally, and in the riding of Mont-Royal by Diane Johnston.

I Fought The Law...

Not even close...but I did break it with one of my blog posts, apparently. Thanks to the guidance of one of my friends, Carmel, I realized that the post I wrote about selling my vote was indeed illegal. I kept the post there though, just because I think the comments are funny, and also because I think it's relevant for future discussions on the election.

My friend Yining also pointed something out to me; selling my vote, even if legal, would be almost useless. The riding I live in, Mont-Royal, hasn't voted Conservative since 1935. And that was a very different time for the riding, before Hampstead and Cote-St-Luc were filled with predominantly Liberal-voting Jews. Just so you know, that was not an anti-semitic comment. I'm Jewish myself, I just wanted to get the facts out there.

This photo is here for informative purposes, not an endorsement

When Irwin Cotler was first elected in 1999, he won 91.97% of the vote. The Conservatives haven't even come close to the Liberals, since 1984 when Pierre Trudeau was not running in that riding for the first time in 19 years.

"Réal Caouette, long-time leader of the Social Credit Party in Quebec, once said that a mailbox could win the Liberal nomination in Mount Royal and still win election just because it was red (the traditional colour of the Liberal Party)." (Wikipedia)

Also, my Understanding Quebec teacher once said that if a dog ran as a Liberal in my Provincial Riding of D'Arcy McGee, he would win.

And they were both right.

The point is, despite my riding's extremely Liberal views, voting is still important. It's our democratic right, and even though I originally opposed voting in this election because of my lack of knowledge on the subject, I'm changing my position.

I encourage you, wherever your riding, however one-sided it is, to still vote. I will.

BUY MY VOTE!

DISCLAIMER: This article is meant purely as a joke. Do not take it seriously, selling one's right to vote is an offense.Yes. You heard right, I am auctioning off my vote for the Prime Minister of Canada, with elections to be held October 14th.

Here are the seven candidates running in my electoral district, Mont-Royal:

Tyrell Alexander (Green Party of Canada)
Antonio Artuso (Communist Party of Canada)
Irwin Cotler (Liberal Party of Canada)
Diane Johnston (Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada)
Maryse Lavallée (Bloc Québécois)
Nicolas Thibodeau (New Democratic Party)
Rafael Tzoubari (Conservative Party of Canada)

I am not following the election as much as I should be, and do not have any ties to either party as this is my first election. Because of this, I am willing to auction off my vote to the highest bidder. Please send me an E-mail at gewurzj@gmail.com, with the party you want me to vote for in my riding, and how much you're willing to pay me.

Any money I receive from this auction will not go into my bank account or pocket, but to a very deserving charity, which I will decide upon at a later date. The person who buys my vote will have input on which charity will receive the money.

Please give generously, because not only are you helping out one of the parties, you'll also be helping out a very deserving charity.

Note: I reserve the right to refuse a bid if circumstances grant it.

PS. Please check the sidebar on the right for the leading bid, and who they want me to vote for.

The First Book Post

So carrying around this little book that i talked about last post has actually mildly payed off. While waiting for the bus outside Plamondon metro earlier tonight, I actually started writing. But because i was interrupted by a friend not too long after I started, my "post," was interrupted. Anyways, here it is:

I Hate Rain - 8:44 pm
"Piece of shit weather. I hate rain. I also hate public transportation, especially at night, when you just want to get home already. Even during the day it sucks. I was standing next to this one guy on the bus this morning, and he actually smelled like a garbage bag. No exaggeration. To make things even worse for me (and the other passengers,) his arm was raised, so we were getting the full whiff. Straight outta that commercial a few years back."

And that's it. Pretty short, but I had barely started writing before the friend showed up. Had he not, I prob could've ranted a bit more about how much I hate the STM at night, and maybe thought of some other stuff. But I don't exactly remember how I was feeling at that exact moment, so maybe next time.

At least I'm not carrying around the book for nothing?

I'm Really Cool...

If some of you think that's me, then you must be hilariously stupid. It's Michelle Trachtenberg, the female lead in Eurotrip, back in her days as Harriet The Spy. So why is this relevant? Good question.

Most of the time when i write blog posts (like now,) It's because I'm sitting at my computer, bored, and decide: "why not? I have nothing better to do." But now, thanks to a little notebook i found in my house, I'll be able to do that all the time! Woo-hoo! (Wow Jamie is so cool...)

Basically I'll be keeping this book (it's blue,) in my bag with me at all times, at least during the day. Whenever I feel the need to write a little something, I'll whip out the book and write. Next time I get in front of a computer I'll simply just type it up into a blog post.

This won't be a diary or a journal, and I won't be spying on people, but having the book with me at all times... at least during the school day, will give me a chance to write some stuff down when i see random ass shit (like the guy sitting alone, without a shirt on, with no books, in the Library today.)

And that's about it for now.

DAMN YOU NBC!

Before I start this post allow me to have a disclaimer:

NBC is probably my favorite network. It airs Heroes, The Office, How I Met Your Mother, and 30 Rock, my four favorite on-air shows. It also airs my two favorite late night shows, Late Night With Conan O'Brien and Saturday Night Live. A couple years back it even showed some of my all-time favourites (Seinfeld, Friends, Las Vegas.) So why all this hatred?

After I discovered I could actually put videos into my blog, instead of just linking to them, I was very happy. Immediately I put in Tina Fey's impression of Sarah Palin on Saturday's episode of SNL in the post where i reviewed that episode. Then watched it. Four times. God bless YouTube.

But then, a couple hours later when i tired to watch it, i remembered: NBC sucks. The video, and all other videos on YouTube that showed the whole sketch,had been removed due to copyright infringement.

Excuse me NBC, but have you seen YouTube? Almost every single video there violates copyright law, despite the warning YouTube gives when you upload a video. YouTube became so popular that many television networks, including NBC, got their own "channels." Both John McCain and Barack Obama are using YouTube to post speeches and ads, in an effort to reach the viral community.

So where did NBC go?

A couple of months, actually closer to a year, NBC shut down their YouTube channel, taking viral mega-hits "Lazy Sunday" and "Dick In A Box," with it. Why? In anticipation of the launch of Hulu, their own version of YouTube.

Because of those assholes over at NBC, viewers outside the U.S. no longer have access to any NBC-related clips. They've essentially monopolized something they have the right to monopolize, but shouldn't have. If you have the right to change your name to We Suck A Lot Corporation, do you? No. Thanks NBC, you guys suck.

PS. You may suck, but please keep Heroes, The Office, How I Met Your Mother, and 30 Rock on the air as long as possible. Thanks.

Phelphs Phails as SNL Host

Oh, haha. Jamie made a play on words. Anyways, I was at a friends house yesterday and we decided to watch SNL, which hasn't been that great lately, except for the occasional episode when they have a great host (Lebron, Peyton Manning, Seth Rogen, etc.) And then the show goes and does two things, each with a completely different level of awesomeness.

1) They get Tina Fey to come back (maybe more than a one-time fling?) to portray Sarah Palin, who looks almost identical (in her "Tina Fey glasses" as Amy Poehler, playing Hillary Clinton, says,) like the actress.

2) Then they go and do something stupid: get Michael Phelps to host.

Now being the host of SNL is kind of a big thing, at least in regards to the show. You have the first sketch after the opening one (the monologue,) and you're in a large number of the skits. So why did Lorne Michaels choose Phelps? Because of America's utter infatuation with the swimming phenom, something I , as a Canadian, can not understand. Now I understand he shattered records in Beijing on his way to a record 8 gold medals, but as anyone who saw his interviews during the games can attest to, he's no comedian. He even had trouble answering simple questions during the interviews, acting like an awkward teenager, which at 23, he still kind of is.

America's infatuation with Phelps extends so far that some people (like Nina Mandell, in an SI.com article here,) actually think the performance was GOOD. Maybe they're swimmers themselves, and have inhaled too much chlorine, because his performance was atrocious. Worse than Vinny Chase in Medellin. Anyways, Skit-by-skit, SNL tried to hard to turn Phelps into something he's not, a funny person.

To get him comfortable, two separate characters were used in HIS opening monologue. They also tried to recreate the originally hilarious skit starring Seth Rogen (who was the host) and Kristen Wiig as the extremely ugly children of Bill Hader and Amy Poehler, who are having a sort of party with a few friends, who keep getting interrupted by these grotesque children.It was funny with Rogen, where his size and too-small shirt made it even funnier. Switch Rogen's character with a 6''4' behemoth, and its not so funny.

The one bright point of Phelph's night was the final skit, which made fun of his now infamous 12,000-calorie diet. Check it out on YouTube if you can find it.

There were a few other funny moments, including Weekend Update correspondents Nicholas Fehn, the headline guy, and the new, hilarious "Alaska Pete." The best moment of the night however, was the opening sketch, featuring Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and Amy Poehler reprising her role of Hillary Clinton.

Unfortunately, because of NBC's decision to remove all NBC videos from YouTube and switch them over to Hulu, (which is unavailable in Canada,) the video cannot be found by Canadian residents online. To my knowledge, please comment here if you find a way.

Check out my new post regarding my displeasure towards NBC for leaving YouTube by clicking here.

Palin PWNED!

Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin made to look like a fool in the first part of her first public interview.

Waiting Up For Ike

Hurricane Ike is 1 mph away from being declared a Category 3 hurricane, and headed towards Houston. Because Houston is the home of one of my sets of first cousins, as well as my favorite football team, I'm staying awake, refreshing CNN every couple of minutes.

Fortunately, by the time it passes over Houston, experts predict it will have died down a little, so neither my cousins nor my favorite team should be harmed.

One good thing to come out of this hurricane, however, is that the Texans-Ravens game originally slated for Sunday afternoon has been moved to Monday night, giving the Texans their first Monday night game in their short history.

Even though most of the continent will be tuned into the Cowboys-Eagles matchup, I'll be watching/following my Texans. Unfortunately the game won't reach me here in Montreal so I'll have to watch online. Or move to Baltimore, Washington DC, or Houston, which is probably not the best idea, considering the circumstances.

Anyways it's already after 3 so I'll be going to sleep, or at least trying to... and I can only hope that Ike does not get any stronger, and those affected in Houston and the rest of Texas are okay.

Peace Out Logo, Template

Yes, I am talking to a no longer existing logo, who of course cannot respond. Sometime, when I get bored, I make irrational technological changes. One time I deleted everyone from my MSN list that I hadn't spoken to in the last three days. One time I gave up using MSN or MySpace for a month (oh MySpace...) Another time, this time, I got bored and changed my layout.

I know, I'm a rebel.

Basically, I'll admit I'm not the greatest writer, but I need practice, and that's why I have The Blender, with it's new motto (see top of page) replacing the old one "When you put every topic you can imagine into a blender, this is what comes out." This motto change makes the title utterly irrelevant, like when the Minneapolis Lakers moved to L.A. (where there are almost no lakes,) or the New Orleans Jazz moving to Utah (that has no Jazz scene at all to my knowledge. It would be like the Canadiens moving to Maine and keeping their name, but I don't care I still did it.

Does it really matter anyway? How many people at there actually read this blog. I pretty much write this as an online journal of sorts, just not as personal I guess. I've been teased for writing about certain things in the past, but really, since when do I care what people think?

If that were true I would shave more then once every full moon, exercise, and maybe spend more than 37 seconds choosing an outfit for the day. But I guess that's the sometime beauty of being a guy. I can't speak for all women, but from what I've heard learned form my female friends, women care a lot more about what people think of them than men do.

But if they didn't they wouldn't shave their legs, so let's be thankful they do.

Who Takes Over The AFC?

Only 7:22 into the Patriots season-opener against the Chiefs, and the entire NFL season was sent into a spiral of questioning. As Tom Brady went down clutching his knee, fans nationwide started wondering; was that it? Did the Patriots just lose the league’s reigning MVP, and along with him, their playoff hopes?

Yes and most unfortunately, yes. With Tom Brady officially on injured reserve, the Patriots’ playoffs chances hinged on the inexperienced Matt Cassell. Tom Brady actually took over the Patriots, back in 2001, under similar circumstances, following a Drew Bledsoe injury. But Bledsoe was no Brady, and neither is Cassell. Brady started 22 games at the University of Michigan. Cassell? He spent four years backing up Heisman winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart.

So who becomes the AFC favourite now? Many people are saying the perennial underachievers, the San Diego Chargers, but with Shawne Merriman sidelined for the season, their chances seem grim.

Some other “experts” say the Jets instantly become not only the favourites to win their division, but the entire AFC. Apparently these experts forgot that the Jets went 4-12 last year, and even though they added Brett Favre, they still have too many holes to be Super Bowl contenders. Division maybe. Conference? Not a chance.

So who wins the conference? The Steelers. The Steelers have an explosive offence, with underrated Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback, “Fast” Willie Parker at running back, and two stars at receiver, Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes.

Not only do they have a great offence, which they didn’t when they won the Super Bowl back in 2006, but their defense is dominant. I know this from experience, as I watched the Steelers rip apart my beloved Texans in week one.

College Dropout

Thankfully this post is not about me. I've been at Dawson long enough, dropping out at this point would just be useless. Anyways I was just doing some work, and figured I'd pop in my iPod for some background music. The album I chose, however, turned out to be a lot better than just "background music."

College Dropout, Kanye West's 2004 debut,is filled with great tracks. All Falls Down, featuring Syleena, is amazing. So are Through The Wire, (which Kanye wrote and recorded with his jaw wired shut after a near-fatal car accident,) Slow Jamz, featuring Twista, and the always-classic The New Workout Plan and Jesus Walks, the monster single, and a few other decent tracks.

So even if this album is pretty old, it's still amazing, and for some odd, odd, reason, I felt I had to tell someone?

New "Celebrity" Crush?

Every blog needs a "crush."

Extra Mustard has a new one almost every week, so I think it's about time I've decided on one, at least for now, even if she's not much of a "celebrity" per se.

Readers, meet Erin.



Now I've had many celebrity crushes in my life, in no order; Emmanuelle Chriqui, Lindsay Lohan, Hayden Pannettiere, Kristen Bell, Tina Fey, Isla Fischer, and many more that I just can't think of now.

Anyways the point is, Erin trumps them all. Mainly because I've never seen any of the others in real life, but also because she has the total package, every shallow chauvinistic thing I look for in a girl.

For one thing she's a redhead. My whole life, well, since I saw the Parent Trap and fell in lust with Lindsay Lohan, and then later on Isla Fischer. I don't really know where it came from, but I used to joke with my friend that I had inherited the blood of Jim Morrison, somehow, because of our similar names (James-Jamie.) Jim Morrison preferred redheads, and even his wife was one. But obviously I didn't actually inherit his blood, the redhead thing kinda came out of nowhere. Most guys prefer blonds but not me.

Keep in mind by the way that this is a completely shallow, chauvinistic article. In real life I actually do prefer a woman's personality to her looks (guys, make fun of me as much as you want, girls, message me if you're down,) but the purpose of this article is just to express my lust towards this cheerleader.

That reminds me, I never said where I "met" her. I went to the Alouettes game with my friend today and we sat in the third row, less than 50 feet from some of the Argonauts cheerleaders, (as well as washed-up former NFLer Mike Vanderjagt, who got a couple good heckles form me.) Early in the game my friend goes "whoa, check out ginger," and I had no idea what he was talking about, so I started scanning the cheerleaders till, boom. I saw Erin.

I feel extremely immature/stupid to write this blog, especially since it's already been almost 400 words of useless drivel, but oh well, back to lusting after this Erin...

Aside from her redheadness, Erin possesses everything I look for (physically,) in a girl; nice body, nice sex appeal (her dance moves...wow...lol,) and the simple fact that she's also ca cheerleader, another attraction that started when i started becoming obsessed with Heroes and Hayden Panettiere.

She's been a cheerleader for the Argos for 3 years apparently, and is a vegan. Good for her. Her bio on the Argos site (yes I did the research,) asked what her perfect day would be like, and I'm posting it here just because it's hilariously stereotypical cheerleader/jappy of her.

"My ‘perfect’ day would consist of… Start off with a big tray of assorted fruit, then I would get picked up in a Viper that would take me to a mall for a big shopping spree with all my friends. Then I would go to a charity that supports underprivileged children to have a chance to participate in sports and donate and help organize the sports games. I would finish the day with my family for dinner and a movie."

Kayyyyyy Erin. You may be extremely hot but you don't seem to unique. Don't worry, I, and now The Blender, still lust you. (I have this thing with the word love...)

I think almost 600 words is enough for an unknown CFL cheerleader, so I think I'm off to bed.

Stay classy.

Ranting on the Entourage Premiere

I know she wasn't in the first episode, but when I think "Entourage," I think Emannuelle Chriqui. Excuse me for being a man. Anyways, after my Texans post I started writing a couple words on tonight's episode, but that ended being over 200 words, so I gave it it's own post. Here it is:

Entourage, the TV show, is back after it's almost year and a half oasis.

For those of you who haven’t seen the series premiere yet, sucks, because I’m about to spoil the ending for you.

A couple of questions I have for those of you who watched it…

Did turtle really not notice that Drama was carrying a fish with him the entire carried? And surely Richard Roeper, probably one of most famous critics out there, would have better security that isn’t as penetrable as Turtle and Drama made it out to be.

On another thing, what’s the deal with Turtle and Vince’s hangout in Mexico? Are there only girls allowed or something? Is Vince Chase really a big enough player to be able to pull about 20 girls away to a resort? No. And regarding the whole arrangement Turtle and Vince have with their girls, who planned this? Vinnie gets two and Turtle gets one? Did all the girls have a meeting or something and agree on this?

I was actually very disappointed with the episode as a whole, even though I do like Bow Wow’s character as one of E’s clients. Give E a hot assistant and his character could really take off this season. “Look for Bow Wow’s character to blow up and end up being a big star,” says my friend Josh. Could happen, and would suck for Vince when his best friend’s attention turns to his new client.

Anyways, regardless of how bad the plot or ending might be, if Entourage continues its steady stream of hot female stars and one-liners from Ari and everyone else, I’ll be fine.

Do The Texans Still Have A Shot?

For some reason I love to start my blog posts with semi-rhetorical questions, only to spend the entire post answering that exact question. So I will. And even after a 38-17 manhandling at the hands of the Pittsburgh Steelers, I, a usually pessimistic person, remain extremely optimistic.

Why?

The 2007 Cleveland Browns. The Browns lost, 35-7, at home, to the Browns week 1 of last year. They ended up finishing 10-6 and a tiebreaker away from a playoff spot. Can the Texans replicate that? It's possible. Allow me to make the comparison, player to player;

QB: Browns - Derek Anderson, Texans - Matt Schaub
Anderson came out of nowhere to throw for nearly 4000 yards to go with his 29 touchdowns. Matt Schaub is also an underrated, unknown QB that could do the same, even with his less-than-stellar performance this week.

HB: Browns - Jamal Lewis, Texans - Steve Slaton
The two players couldn't be more different. Lewis is a bruiser, Slaton is the shifty, elusive, Westbrook type. But the Browns signed Lewis at the beginning of last season and ended up with over 1500 total yards and 11 total touchdowns. With the Texans zone-blocking scheme perfect for Slaton, give him a couple more reps to get used to the Texans playbook and we can expect big things form the former Mountaineer.

WR: Browns - Braylon Edwards, Texans - Andre Johnson
Both receivers have been absolutely dominant so far in their young careers. Edwards was drafted third overall in 2005, Johnson went third in 2003. Last season, Edwards broke out with 1289 yards and 16 touchdowns. Many compare the two, both huge receivers with speed. Johnson got injured early last year, but returned mid-season to finish with 851 receiving yards and 8 touchdowns. Providing he stays healthy, can he have a similar season to Edwards last year? He had 10 catches for 112 yards this week against a tough defense. So it looks like it

TE: Browns - Kellen Winslow, Texans - Owen Daniels
I'm not gonna come out and say Daniels can top Winslow's 1106 yards and five touchdowns, but when a QB needs a security blanket, he has his tight end there for him. Daniels could have an 800-yard, 5 touchdown type season, which is good enough for me.

LT: Browns - Joe Thomas, Texans - Duane Brown
Thomas was far and away the best offensive lineman in the 2007 draft. If I remember correctly, Brown was the 7th tackle taken this year. Regardless, both were young, thrust into starting roles as rookies, and performed admirably, with Thomas making the Pro Bowl. Will Brown make the Pro Bowl? I doubt it, but he's huge and has potential, and it looks like the Texans have finally found their left tackle.

Defense:
I'm not even gonna get into this too much. I know the Texans have a week secondary, and though they got torched on the run this week, with young stars like Mario Williams, Amobi Okoye (one of the youngest players in the league, even though he's a second year pro,) and Pro Bowler and former Defensive ROY Demeco Ryans anchoring their defense, the Texans should be fine.

A look at Sarah Palin and the 2008 Election

As an aspiring journalist, I pride myself on coming up with creative headlines (hence the pop-culture reference in this one,) and leads, as well as witty sentences. But, even though blogger Bill Tancer of Time Magazine thought of it first, I have to say this.

"I doubt that any of us have ever considered any of our past vice-presidential candidates a sex symbol."

Tancer couldn't be more right. And even though, at 44, Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin's looks are declining, one thing cannot be contested. She used to be hot.

Exhibit A:

Not bad eh? Taken in 1984, the photo shows Palin as an attractive 20-year old woman. She even finished second in the race for 1984 Miss Alaska, taking the "Miss Congeniality" title. Not only was she attractive, she was also a sportscaster for KTUU-TV in Anchorage. A hot female sportscaster. Can't get much better than that. So I'll admit. I am very attracted to Sarah Palin.

Let me rephrase that. I am attracted to who was then known as Sarah Heath. That is, 1980s Sarah Palin. The current Sarah Palin, not so much. Not only is she getting old, she stands for almost everything I'm opposed to, from being pro-life to just being pro-McCain. She is the republican vice presidential nominee, despite much better options (Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney,) being available. If John McCain wants to pry Hillary voters away from Obama, all the power to him. He will not be successful.

Another thing I don't like about Palin is her skill in making choices. Say what you want about her voting for drilling in the ANWR (Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve,) she clearly has not made good choices in naming her kids: Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper, Trig. Only celebrities should have the right to give their kids stupid names like these. And she can't control her own daughter, 17-year-old Bristol, who is unmarried and five-months pregnant, how will she control the country?

In choosing a vice-presidential candidate, the presidential candidate should always look at the one-heartbeat-away factor. If something were to happen to McCain, could Palin lead the country? No. Not even close. Now on the other side, if something were to happen to Barack Obama, would Joe Biden be able to lead the country? I really do think so.

Case closed? Not quite. According to USA Today's Electoral Vote Tracker, the Democrats have 248 electoral votes on lockdown, to the Republicans' 135. For those who don't know, a presidential candidate needs 270 to win. Now let's examine this deeper.

States Obama-Biden have on lockdown: Washington, Oregon, California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, , Rode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and D.C.

States McCain-Palin have on lockdown: Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Alaska, North Dakotas, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Indianapolis, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

Which leaves the following "swing" states open: Montana, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, and New Hampshire.

Out of the leftover, no-locked down states, these should go to Obama: New Mexico, Iowa, and New Hampshire.

And these should go to McCain: Montana, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Arkansas, Lousiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, West Virginia.

After those states have been awarded, the new electoral vote tally? 264-227, Obama. Based on common knowledge/assumptions, Obama is a mere SIX electoral votes from being Amerca's next president. Where will he get these votes? Two states seem to jump to mind, the only two I did not award to either candidate. Ohio and Florida, both huge players in the controversial 2000 election, where the Dems won the popular vote but failed to lock down the presidency.

Do I think Obama will win Florida? Yes. Do I think Obama will win Ohio? Again, yes. But this means nothing. Not only am I Canadian, I haven't done nearly as much research as hundreds of political analysts from our neighbours to the south. The fact of the matter is, with a dead heat in Ohio and a slight Obama lead in Florida shown in recent polls, an Obama victory seems imminent (and deserved.)

Should make for an interesting two months.

September Already?

Yep, it's arrived that fast. After a short 100-day summer or so, September is here. So what if I, unlike most of my friends, started school last Monday instead of the usual post-Labour Day Tuesday. To me, school only really starts this week, with all the introductory classes done with and the work starting to pile on. In fact, I already have a homework assignment due tomorrow as well as a quiz, so I should probably be getting on those, but I figured I'd stop by the blog first.

While most of my friends are post-frosh starting classes tomorrow, I'll be beginning my second week of what some people call "the Dawson Victory Lap," for those who don't finish Dawson in the standard 4 semesters. Anyways, I messed up and I know it. With the prospect of actually being interested in all my classes for the first time in my life (I hope to end up in Concordia Journalism,) I might actually try for once. And hey, look at this: it's 8:26 and I'm already going to start doing work. First time I did that before 10 in a while.

I've Seen Too Many Movies This Summer

It's true... I Have. And it fucking adds up like crazy, with each movie over ten bucks, plus ten bucks or so in food. I've seen so many movies in theaters this summer I could've probably bought a video game system with the money I've spent, seeing these movies;

- Zohan
- Pineapplex Express (twice)
- Dark Knight (twice)
- Tropic Thunder (just now...)

Basically, a lot. And I'm sure there's been more, plus some other ones on DVD or TV. Basically, a shit load of movies for one month. And what movies do is they take over your life, each one taking up to 2 hours off your life while you get trapped in their fanciful life.

But it's a nice trip they take you on, Tropic Thunder case in point: a bunch of actors (Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr. [disguised as a black guy,] Ben Stiller) playing actors forced into real life combat in the Vietnamese jungle. Quite the movie, with hilarious lines coming out of nowhere. Downey Jr's portrayal as a white Australian who received medical attention to be transformed into his character, a black man, was fucking amazing, excuse my language.

Anyways, goodbye for now.

Obama-Biden 08!

Wow that was a long speech. I don't know how politicians do it, but Barack Obama, president of the US in just a couple of months, just spent about an hour delivering one hell of an acceptance speech.

Pundits wondered if his speech could top his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, when John Kerry was officially awarded the nomination. Anyways, as one can assume, Obama's speech talked mostly about his family's struggles when he was a child, how he overcame poverty and all that to be the man he is today.

Compelling stuff, but most of us that have been following the election have been hearing the same things for about eight months. Regardless, it was very cool seeing him deliver the acceptance speech, with over 80,000 people watching at Mile High Stadium in Denver. Must've been a shitload of security there.

Another point that Obama kept driving in is that voting for John McCain would be voting for another term of Bush-Cheney, because they share similar, if not identical, views on almost everything. He then stated "eight is enough," meaning that eight years is enough suffering, and Americnas don't deserve anymore of the same kind of politicians running their country. This sent the crowd into furious repetitive chants of that phrase, "eight is enough!" There were actually an insane amount of standing ovations and cheers from the crowd, not an irregular occurrence at an Obama speech.

It seems like Obama will make a great president, and Senator Joe Biden a great vice, even though I have no American citizenship, I look forward to eight (not only four) years of the most powerful country in the world being run by someone that actually knows how to run a country.

If you are American and you're reading this, you know what to do.

Let Yourself Get Sucked In

Remember when I said I'd write every day? So do I, and I'm sorry to say that I've made that promise many times before, each time eventually failing to keep the blog going after a couple of posts.

A week alter, I've realized that to accomplish my goal, I must keep writing, regardless of my mood. I just finished watching my 34th episode of Heroes in the past two weeks or so. I bought the second season on DVD yesterday, and just finished it tonight. I guess that's what happens when you lack the kind of social life that involves you having plans in the middle of the week. What can I say, I was bored, and watching an episode of Heroes is like eating a Baked Lay. Betcha' can't watch just one.

Through the show's critically acclaimed two seasons, (it's already won 15 awards,) a group of ordinary people with extraordinary abilities (one of the tag lines,) have come to find each other. Many are related, many are good looking, and some are even evil. I'm not going to get into too much plot details just yet because I don't want to spoil it for newcomers, but if you have never watched the show, you must start now.

There are 23 first season episodes, and 11 from the second season. Season three starts Monday, September 22nd, so that gives you about 26 days to watch 34 episodes. There is nothing more excited than theorizing about people and events form this show, but ti's hard to say too much without giving anything away.

Anyways, I strongly encourage you to get into the show if you haven't already, because you're missing out. One warning though; after a couple of episodes, this show will consume your soul and not let you off until you've seen it all.

PS. The show is also filled with extremely good looking women, including Hayden Panettiere, Kristen Bell, and Ali Larter. So watching the show is nice on the eyes too.

Hot Rod Sucks

Just got home from watching the movie at a friend's house, and it might be the stupidest thing I've ever seen. It's pretty much a dumb SNL skit stretched out to a full-length feature. The plot is that Andy Samberg plays a guy raising money as a stuntman to get his step-dad a new heart. Cute eh? He's doing this so his step-dad could get healthy enough that Samberg's character, Rod, could beat the shit out of him and earn his respect.

The movie was so insanely random, that towards the end a man dressed as Ebeneezer Scrooge pops out of a school bus chanting "roast ducks! roast ducks for everyone!" for no apparent reason. At least the movie features the always hilarious Bill Hader as one of his stunt team crew members, and the guy that plays Red in Pineapple Express as another, along with the insanely attractive Isla Fischer (redhead girl form Wedding Crashers, married to Ali G.)

Anyways I just needed to vent about how stupid the movie was, even if it did provide a couple of laughs.

Good Night.

The Beauty of The Classics

In the new Millennium, we've fallen into a new age of technology. Games are becoming more realistic, Movies are becoming more visually pleasing, and even musicians are inventing new sounds. When it comes down to it though, nothing is better than the classics, the things that started it all.

I say this as I listen to a song that was released in 1969 (Communication Breakdown), playing a computer game that was created IN 1995, a while ago in the virtual world (Civilaztion II.) And wearing on my feet what has not been fashionable for hundreds of years, (nothing.) Basically, what motivated me to write this post, other than the fact I just wrote one, was how much pleasure I'm getting out of this stupid video game.

Civilization II was created 13 years ago, when all computer games were very basic. I played Madden 09 for 360 yesterday, and almost sharted because of how realistic it was. But realism is not always the best option. The point of Civi is two maneuver a civilization of your choice form birth to the end of the world. You start of with one "Settler," who must build a city, where more settlers, warriors, and other units can be created. Every so often your scientists ask you what technological advance they should research, like writing, bridge building, or even chemistry.

The more you develop, the more things you cna do, and the more options you have to do anything really. As of now I've started a new civilization called "The Gurus," with their Capital city of Montreal. I'm at war with the Russians and the Japanese, and the Russians just ransacked and conquered the city of Cote-St-Luc, leaving only the cities of Hampstead and Westmount, and very little military units, to defend myself. It may not sound very exciting, but even though games 1000 times more advanced do exist, nothing beats the pleasure one cna gain form an old classic like Civi II.


Till next time,

- Jamie


Civi Update 1: Just a funny note, I'm still playing Civi, and the French (one of the other Civilizations in the game,) have just taken control of Montreal. Cute eh? (Posted at 9:00 pm)

Civi Update 2: That was fast. It's only 9:05 and the Russians just broke our cease fire and pillaged the city of New CSL. All that's left now is Hampstead and westmount. Shit.

Civi Update 3: Wow I really did not plan this out well. It's 9:09, and the newly created city Pleasenokillme, just got captured by the Barbarians. My alliance with the Japanese is still strong, but useless, and with the French, Russians, and Barbarians all on the same landmass as me, I'm essentially fucked. Oh well.

Civi Update 4: 9:14, the French just cpatured Westmount, leaving me with only one city left. sucks.

Civi Update 5: 9:18, and the English have just captured Hampstead, destroying the Guru civilization.

That might've been the fastest game I've ever played, but ti was still fun. Anyways I'm out but remember to keep checking back for more posts, or subscribe to my RSS feed.

It's About F&*%$@g Time!

This has taken too long. I've procrastinated for months now, putting off writing more for this blog. It started off as occasional writing, and now I don't even write at all. So on that note, I'm announcing the resurrection of The Blender.

The Blender, which was written most frequently this March, had a brief uprising in May before it's death. Now, with the school year starting and more motivation as ever, this blog will start actually becoming what it should be, a blog. Daily postings talking about anything from sports, to politics, to world news and more, will be posted, as well as new kinds of features which will be revealed soon.

And the beauty of it, for me at least, is that I'm killing two birds with one metaphorical stone. By writing this blog I allow myself to improve my writing, (because "practice makes perfect,") and hopefully give my readers, however few they may be, a chance to inform and enjoy themselves.

And with that I'm off, don't forget to check back often.

So Close, Yet So Far

The clock is ticking. 15 hours till my final class of the semester, 17 hours 'till freedom. And all I can think of is how amazing it's going to be to get this load off my cheast (that's what she said.)

In about a week i leave for Europe, and a month later than that I'm off to camp where ill be Assistant Head of Landsports and running Lacrosse, something I'm actually pretty excited for, because of how much I love Lacrosse.

I even bought a new stick today, along with socks and shin pads for floor hockey/soccer/lacrosse. Why can't it be summer yet? Less than a day from now I'll be done school, finally, able to actaully reply "yes" when my friend asks me to play roller hockey. Golf looms also, as do trips to the driving range, and all i have to do is get over the next few hours and I'm good.

Curse you Quebec History. I have an exam tomorrow, so I shall get back to studying...just wanted to give a bit of an update.

Back to the Basics

It has been weeks, months even, since my last blog post, and I'm sure you've all been suffering. Anyways I was really busy with school and all, but now that that's essentially done with school, I'll have a lot more free time.

A lot more free time to do what I like to do best, writing. You see, I want to be a journalist, and if I want to become a better writer, there's only one way; Practice.

So that's what this blog will serve as from now on, (with way more postings, daily if possible.) I'll cover whatever is on my mind at the time, from sports to politics and more, so stay tuned and check back often.

Confessions of a Teenage Insomniac

Some people are gifted. They can get up from whatever they're doing and decide; "O.K., time for me to go to sleep." I am not that lucky.

I usually end up staying on my computer, procrastinating, until late at night. By the time I get into my bed, before sleeping I usually read a book or magazine for a few minutes (sometimes even hours) before I am ready for bed. Ironically, when it comes to sleeping, I become a perfectionist. My door must be closed. My closet must be fully shut, as should my window shade be lest a ray of sunshine wake me up. At that point if I'm lucky, I can fall asleep. So I guess I'm not much of an insomniac, just a lazy sleep-perfectionist who likes to stay up late.

Why am I telling you this? I have absolutely no idea. Mainly because I don't really want to go to bed yet and can't think of anything else to do, but also because I am fulfilling my obligation.

When I started this blog I committed to giving my readers (however scarce they may be,) daily posts ranging no every possible topic. Hence the name, The Blender. Unfortunately my laziness started becoming a factor and I stopped writing posts. It's not like it was a bad news week, far from it.

There was the whole Elliot Spitzer scandal, March Madness, and more, yet I still couldn't muster up a simple post. And that's why you have me writing now, almost 3:30 in the morning, when there is nothing I would rather do but sleep. Yet I am still here, fulfilling my duties.

I guess I should stick to the "Confessions" theme and find something to confess. Hm. Well I can honestly say that I...um...see usually I can find something to say right about here. I have a very open mind and if you know me well enough I am likely to divulge almost any secret I might have. Maybe sometimes even if you don't know me. I also like to call myself a good writer, one who can think of any topic at random and write on it, yet here I am, awake past 3am with not a trace of alcohol, drugs, or caffeine in my system, and I can't find anything to write.

I understand the few of you who check my blog might have missed me while I wasn't writing. I don't want to let you down again, so I'm going to try and keep this going now, and actually update this blog frequently, or at the very least, daily. Please tell your friends about it, the more readers the better, and feel free to put any comments at all on any individual posts.

Actually, I'm gonna take this opportunity to re-introduce this blog. For those of you who don't already know, "The Blender" started off as a sports blog/column in the Dawson newspaper The Plant. I would usually write about whatever was going on in the sports world, often all in one post. Hence the name. A little while ago I kept the blender theme but changed the topics a bit.

My posts now talk about whatever is going on in the world in general. Or at least my world. So far most of my posts have been about the 2008 Election, mainly the Democratic race. If you aren't at all interested in it, don't be afraid, because I often talk about music, sports, movies, and anything really. Also, whatever album I decide to listen to while I write my blog I put as the "Album of the Day" in the right sidebar. There's also a delegate tally and a presidential poll there.

Anyways that's all for now. Sorry for the infrequent posting, I'll try to keep doing it more often.

The Greatest Show You're NOT Watching

I had to finally tell someone that I am in love with the show Las Vegas, and who better but my loyal readers? Anyways, I know the show got canceled a few weeks ago, but when I discovered every episode was being shown in syndication (every day at 6 on Mystery TV,) I decided I HAD to start TIVOing it. So I did, and about 11 episodes in I was hooked. I'm not gonna explain the show for you newbies, you can check out the show's wikipedia entry for that. For those of you who do watch the show, there's a few things I'd like to say, (keep in mind I've only seen the first 11 episodes, plus a few random ones.)

For one thing how can a show like this get away with such a ridiculously good-looking cast? It's not even fair! All kidding aside, I haven't seen a cast this good since The O.C. went off the air. Now I know the chauvinistic side of me is showing, but you have to admit a good-looking cast (being comfortable with my sexuality I can say the men are fairly decent looking as well,) can really keep you into a show.

That's not all that's kept me into the show by the way. The chemistry between the cast is amazing, especially between Danny (Josh Duhamel,) and Ed (James Caan). Danny plays Ed’s protégé, and they both work together in security at the fictional Montecito Resort and Casino. The interaction between the cast, the changing plots of every episode, and the allure of Las Vegas, should keep all viewers very satisfied.

That’s enough praise for my favorite syndicated show. (Can Heroes and The Office come back already please?) Onto the Album of the day, On & On, by Jack Johnson. The Hawaiian-born singer’s soft rock is very pleasing on the ears, and always puts you in a great mood. On & On is no exception.

By the way, I apologize for the fact this blog sounds more like me talking then writing, but my head is killing me and this is the best I could muster. Hope you enjoyed it anyways.

Anyways that’s all for today, and don’t forget to check back tomorrow.

This Really Was a Lazy Sunday

Shit. Another whole day wasted. It could've been that I woke up at 1, only to realize it was 2 (daylight savings time.) Or it could've been that the entire city was covered with a layer of snow, making me WAY too lazy to do anything productive. And so came a day full of playing video games.

Onto the Album of the Day, Outlandos d'Amour. My favorite album from my second favorite artist, it's stocked with very catchy, very listenable tracks. The first three are three of the greatest songs that start an album, (Next to You, So Lonely, and Roxanne.) There are fa few other great songs on the album, so if you don't own it already, download or buy it ASAP.

Now back to the blog. Tuesday's Mississippi primary is coming up, and although only 33 delegates are up for grabs, it's pretty much all there is to keep us entertained till Pennsylvania's April 22nd primary. It looks like if nothing resolved regarding Michigan and Florida, neither candidate may be able to achieve the required 2,025 delgates.

For those of you who don't know, Michigan and Florida tried to attract some more attention my moving ahead their primaries, staging them before the date they were allowed to. This proved completely useless, because it did more harm by good, and all delegates won in those states were ruled ineligible. Now there's a lot of controversy over this, and some are even suggesting a mail-in ballot.

The Habs also played today, and I'm sad to say I predicted they would lose, and they did, 3-1 to the Anaheim Ducks. If you check out Habs Express, you'll see on the right side bar that myself, and the lucky coin I flip before each Habs game, are both 6-0 over the last 6 games. My fellow writers of Habs express refuse to go against their home team, unrealistically predicting a Habs victory every game. That is why they are 4-2 and I am in first. We are a good team, but you can't expect us to win EVERY game.

Anyways I should go start winding down, because based on the weather outside it looks like it'll take me 3 hours to get to school. Good night, to keep checking back often, and don't forget to comment.

Good Night.