Tuesday, June 24, 2008

New release Tuesday.

First of all my new Pulfrich 3D glasses came in the mail this morning! I don't work today, but me and Cody are FINALLY going to see the new Indy movie, so Power Rangers will have to wait until later this afternoon. It's going to be so cool! Well probably not, but I can hope.


I'm not sure what other notable DVD and CDs come out today, but the new Futurama DVD The Beast With A Billion Backs is out. I was already out this morning buying some groceries and stopped by Wal-Mart to see if they had it...and they didn't! When Bender's Big Score came out Wal-Mart had it put out early, but this time they don't even have it. What a rip. I'll pick it up later in the week. You know it'll be good, so I pretty much have to.

Also the Cute Lepers debut CD, "Can't Stand Modern Music", is out today from Joan Jett's Blackheart Records. The band has Stevie Nix and Kicks from the the Briefs, so that's pretty cool. I was going to order it online, but will check out Meloydia and hopefully they'll get it. Check out their MySpace page and rock out.

And yesterday my Sloan CD finally arrived. Yes! When I first opened the package I was a little confused as there were two CD packages. One was sealed and the other was not. The unsealed one was the autographed one and the autographs were actually on the inside of the case and not on the cover. That's kinda cool, so they won't get scratched up or anything. Although, it was just an empty case, no CD and not even the insert book. Did they have a pile of cases lying around or did they just throw the CD and book in the garbage. I can keep the CD in the plain case and then cryogenically seal and preserve the autographed case. Must keep in NM condition!

Saturday, June 21, 2008

It's like I'm really there!!



There is a stupid and boring story behind those 3D glasses, so keep reading to hear it or go here for something way more interesting.

As I'm sure all of you know the internet is pretty boring which why I usually find myself on eBay looking at cool and useless crap to buy. One night I was looking around and came across a Power Rangers VHS, but this Power Rangers tape was special, it was in 3D! There aren't many movies available in 3D and the gimmick is pretty strong especially when you can sit in the comfort of your own home and watch 3D movies. The Power Rangers tape came with two pairs of 3D glasses and a poster and was pretty cheap and I had to have it. About a week after I had paid for it I got an e-mail from the seller saying the USPS had damaged it in transit and he gave me full refund.

I was bummed about not getting my Power Rangers 3D tape, but got back on eBay and found another copy, this one was cheaper, but didn't come with the poster. Fast forward a couple weeks and my VHS comes in the mail. I immediately open it and take the tape out of the sleeve and dump out the glasses. The tape wasn't even rewound by whoever watched it last (not cool) and the 3D glasses looked like crap. They weren't even the original 3D glasses, but some beat up old glasses from the Spy Kids 3D movie. They were so small they couldn't even fit on my fat face, but I may have had that problem with the original Power Rangers ones too. Okay, now I was getting a little frustrated.

Back to eBay! I bought a set of four pairs of brand new 3D glasses for 88 cents. A week and a half later my new glasses showed up in the mail box. After dinner I popped in the Power Rangers and put on my new 3D glasses. As you saw in the picture the glasses are the red/blue anaglyph style 3D glasses which produce a stereoscopic 3D effect by using images are made up of two color layers, superimposed, but offset with respect to each other to produce a depth effect. Get it? So the tape rolls and we see a title card for "Circlescan 4D" then a clip on how to wear the glasses and they look nothing like the red/blue glasses, the 3D process it something different, so the glasses are useless.

The 3D method on the Power Rangers video is known at the Pulfrich effect which is a "psycho-optical phenomenon wherein lateral motion by an object in the field of view is interpreted the brain as having a depth component, due to differences in processing speed between images from the two eyes. The effect is generally induced by placing a dark filter over one eye." I stole that bit right off the Wikipedia Pulfrich effect entry. Guess what's next? Back to eBay! Back on eBay I bought four more pairs of Pulfrich glasses with the dark lens on the right eye. I haven't gotten it yet, but hopefully next week or something.

So now I have four pairs of anaglyph glasses and will have four more pairs of Pulfrich glasses, just to watch a crappy 3D Power Rangers video. I feel like I should go out and try to buy more 3D videos or books just so I can get some use out of my all my glasses. The anaglyph glasses weren't a total loss as Cody watched some 3D videos on YouTube...for about five minutes.

On another 3D related note I remember way back when my parents took us on vacation and we went to Disneyland and we watched Captain EO. That was some 3D movie shown only at Disneyland and was directed by Francis Ford Coppola, produced by George Lucas and starring Michael Jackson. It was a long a time ago and I can't remember if it was any good or not, but I remember having lasers and crap coming right at me. I also remember that Star Tours was better.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

I'VE BEEN VIOLATED!

Maybe you'll remember me writing something a while ago about somebody smashing the window in Cody's car and stealing like $8 in change. When I was in Cranbrook the other week somebody broke the passenger mirror on Cody's car. Last night it was my turn.

I came out this morning and when I got to my door I noticed it wasn't all the way closed, I just thought maybe I didn't close it last night. Then I went to unlock it and found out it wasn't locked. Inside I saw the the lid on the centre console was open and I know I closed that. Some one was in my car!! After looking around I saw both doors were open and there wasn't too much missing. The jerks managed to get away with two loonies, a twoonie, and my car cell phone charger.

There was no damage to the car which was nice. Last night me and Cody were out and I guess one of us forgot to lock the door...I mean Cody forgot to lock his door! I would never do anything like that. The crap that was stolen was no big deal. I had some CDs in there that they didn't even touch. I guess crackheads have poor taste in music.

After Cody's recent incident with his mirror he has decided it's time to move. We've stayed in the basement this long because it's cheap and we're lazy. Now we're looking at moving into a condo/townhouse thing. Currently we're paying only $700/month for rent, but if we move it'll be like $1100/month. It will be nice to have windows with a view and not have to hear people upstairs play Rockband. The game may be fun, but it sounds like sh*t. Our lease now ends August 31st and we're trying to get a place for August 1st so we can have the entire month to move out our stuff and clean up the old place. Cody already called out this one place, but according to the lady on the phone "somebody took it just this morning." I'll keep you updated.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Link of the Day

Hey, welcome the inaugural Link of the Day. Also, chances are it could the final Link of the Day. I was just bored and didn't have anything to write about, so I did this because I always go the easy route. Today's link is to INSTRUCTABLES, a DIY website on how to make everything and anything.

Not only can you look up how to make various useless items, but you can post instructions on how to make your own creations. If you've ever wanted to know how to make a flux capacitor, disposable camera taser, or build a whiskey still. I checked it out to learn how to make candy glass. You know in movies when someone gets a beer bottle smashed over their head, that's candy glass, or break away glass. I also found a somewhat cool one on how to convert old stereo speakers into a media rack. Everything is totally useless and some stuff looks like crap, you can buy nicer stuff. Still there are a few decent looking things, so check it out.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

I'm back baby.

Got back to Calgary about 5:30pm today and it would've been a bit sooner except for a nasty accident on highway 1. I watched the news later on at 6pm and it said there was actually snow which reduced visibility, so when a truck broke down another large cargo truck stopped to help it then some car totally smashed into it. I mean half the car was smashed under the back of the truck. Of course everybody else on the road probably slammed on the brakes which caused a few other cars to hit the ditch farther up and some Coke van to roll in the ditch. It was crazy. I also saw a bear.

Cranbrook was okay, would've been a lot better if the weather hadn't been so cold and rainy. The mountains had fresh snow on them! On the front page of Tuesday's Townsman they had a picture of some deer that had given birth to two fauns. This all happened right in town off Victoria which had to be closed for like two hours.


I found this Ewok at the Hospital Auxilary in Cranbrook and thought he was pretty funny/cute looking despite being an Ewok. Here he is about to get his block knocked off by Kamen Rider Kuuga. I think it's funny!

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Cranbrook & music *EDIT*

So far nothing exciting to report as Cranbrook is boring as usual. I did see where that helicopter crashed. Just look for the black charred mark on the sidewalk. The weather has been pretty crappy, cold and rainy. I was actually going to go out and try and get some exercise, but the weather isn't cooperating. I guess that's God's way of telling me it's okay to be fat and lazy. Also, after driving around a little bit I can truthfully report that the roads aren't any better. In fact they are worse! The city would be better off just to rip out the pavement and go back to old fashioned hard pack dirt roads. It's not like they would be any worse, anything is an improvement.

New Sloan! All Music Guide has a review for the new Sloan and it's pretty positive. Then again it's not like Sloan to make a bad album. Remember way back when I said I pre-ordered mine online from Yep Roc Records in a bid to get an autographed copy? I got an e-mail today saying I was one of the lucky ones who will be receiving an autographed copy...BUT!! Yep Roc was late in getting the autographed CDs and doesn't expect to get them for a couple more days. So they still have to arrive and then be shipped out to me, so I probably won't be getting my CD for a couple weeks. That's okay as Yep Roc has given out a free album digital download with the CD or LP purchase to hold me over until the CD arrives.

Before I left for Cranbrook I did manage to get the new Weezer special editon Red Album from the HMV by where I work. I listened to it a few times on the drive back and you can colour me unimpressed. Weezer used to be so cool, but the new album is barely mediocre. After listening to it none of the songs really stood out and it just seemed "meh". That totally sucks. If you haven't picked it up yet you can either just ask me *hint hint* or go to Wal-Mart where they have the regular version of the album and the deluxe version both priced at $12.87. Not bad, but it would be a lot better if it was actually good.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Guess where I am??



It's not that hard to figure out as the only other place other than Calgary I'd be is Cranbrook. I had asked for time off and expected to get in a week or two, but was a bit surprised to get it so soon. I wasn't very well planned because when I called home to tell my parents I was coming back I found out my dad was gone to the coast on a fishing trip and my mom would be at Kootenay Lake for the weekend. I still came back because I gotta do something with my time off.

I drove back today and it was a pretty quiet drive for a Saturday. It rained off and on the whole drive back, so maybe that's why. When I was driving through Fernie I stopped at the first set of lights and was behind this redneck truck. He was driving a Ford and had scribbed (not written, there is a difference) on each letter of FORD making it say, "For Off Road Drunks". I don't know why he thought that was so cool as to deface his truck with it, but it's so stupid it's hilarious. Maybe some rival Chevy driving redneck pranked him. Unfortuately, my camera was packed in my bag and I couldn't grab it snap a picture.
Calgary is a big town with lots of people of different cultures, but it always amazes me that soon as I enter the Cranbrook city limits it's like an onslaught of rednecks and white trash. I guess it's always been that way, but I never really noticed before because I was used to it. Anyway, I will keep you all updated on the situation here as it develops.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Duuuuuuude



Did you know that in Manitoba they make an organic hemp based vanilla beverage? Did you also know that said drink tastes awful! I'm not sure why I bought this other than I thought the name was funny. This morning I opened it for breakfast and took about two sips and put back in the fridge. I'm pretty much done with it. I guess it has to be healthy when it tastes that bad. I bet if they added some chemicals to it, it would taste a lot better. Just a suggestion.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Totally radical!

A few posts back I talked about watching the 80's teen movie Valley Girl. The music was kinda cool and I tried looking for the soundtrack, but no place in town stocked it. I just bought a copy off eBay and got it for under $15 after shipping and exchange. I had to wait a couple weeks to get it, but I survived. But now it's here! I've added four new songs off the soundtrack to the streaming player. I'm sure you've at least heard the Modern English song. Enjoy dudes.

Also the new Weezer is out tomorrow, June 3rd, but be warned! There is supposed to be a deluxe version of the album. I'm not sure what it all comes with, but it does have 4 extra tracks that the regular album doesn't have. That's pretty cheap, I mean why not just release the album with the extra tracks? Do they suck or something? I'm sure how easily it'll be to find, but I'll have a look.