The results are in!

So, you thought this weekend was just about the Oscars? Well, you were wrong? Another award show went on. And I don't mean the Razzies.

Here are the results of the First Annual Mike Statement Radio Awards, or, you can read the whole award show here.

Most Overplayed Band That Hasn't Done Anything Recently
Presenter: Ben Stiller
Winner: Our Lady Peace

Whiniest Song
Presenter: Chris Martin
Winner: "Broken" - Seether, f. Amy Lee

Worst Radio Commercial
Presenter: Ben Mulroney
Winner: Our lawyers have advised us not to reveal the winner of this award, as it may negatively impact funding for further shows.

Most Underplayed Song
Presenter: Neil Diamond
Winner: "A Crow Left of the Murder" - Incubus

Most Underplayed Band
Presenter: Nicolette Sheridan
Winner: Pre-suck Nickelback

Worst Radio Personality
Presenter: Jude Law
Winner: Dave Bookman, 102.1 The Edge

Most Overplayed Song of the Year
Presenter: Kalen Porter
Winner: "Vertigo" - U2

Most Overplayed Band of the Year
Presenters: Green Day
Winner: Sum 41

Skiing, the Sequel



Carley, her dad and I went skiing at Horseshoe Valley on Wednesday, after having to postpone from Monday. Well, more accurately, Carley and her dad went skiing, I held them up and slid down a lot of hills.

Actually, if I do say so myself, I didn't do so badly assuming I haven't skied in years, and did poorly at it when I did. We went right to it, and didn't have an instructor, so it was kinda trial by fire, but I think I passed.

I spent much of the first three hours on my butt, trying to get up, but didn't do any serious damage. The afternoon, however, I actually had a bit of confidence built up, and we tried some trickier hills - I skied all the blues and greens, and Carley and her dad ventured up to a couple of black diamonds.

I actually managed to ski the Mule Train and the Canter trails without falling, and skied one of the blues safely, but wiped out at the bottom (it was pretty much that, or hit the trees).

My main problem appears to be speed. I can absolutely not control the speed that I go down the hill, even if I do turn side-to-side on the trails. At first (read: when I didn't know how to stop), the speed kinda intimidated me, so I just fell down (that's the story I'm going with). But, once I figured out how to stop on a regular basis, once I started speeding up, I just kinda went with it.

We skied for much of the day, probably about six hours or so. Afterwards, we went to Carley's dad's parent's house for a soak in the hot tub, a drying out in the sauna (for Henry and I), and a grandma-quality dinner, including homemade lemon meringue pie that was made from scratch purely because we would be coming over after skiing and would want dessert. That is grandma logic.

It was the most fun I've had in a long time, despite being quite stiff this morning and the sleep deprivation, and I have the Centens to thank for it, like so many other things.

Stop Ringing!

My sister's contract at my mum's work ran out at the end of last week, so she has been home this week. In that week (still only four days old), our phone has rung more times than it did in, say, 2004. Seriously, on Monday, it rang every half-hour from 9:30 to noon. And it's nothing important!!! She's on the phone for all of three minutes, then she hangs up. Then, 27 minutes later, the phone will ring again, for another three minute call.

That, and, when she's not receiving calls, she's making them. Usually to my mum to say things like, "Mike said he was going to be home for dinner, but then Carley called and he took a shower, so he probably won't be." Ummmm...I don't keep records on these sorts of things, but I'm pretty sure I talk to Carley and shower in the same day on a fairly regular basis.

The point is, if you can't get through on the first try, keep trying. It's like trying to win a contest from a radio station.

(I'm so glad we finally got broadband internet, I was so tired of having the phone tied up.)

Hotel Rwanda

Carley and I went to see Hotel Rwanda at the AMC on Tuesday (because, for some reason, it's not available anywhere). What a movie.

For those that don't know, it's about hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina (played very well by Don Cheadle) who, during the genocide in Rwanda ten years ago, sheltered over 1,200 people in his hotel until they were eventually liberated. It's not up for best picture, but Don Cheadle and Sophie Okonedo are up for best actor and best supporting actress, respectively.

The movie didn't deal very much with the actual causes of the civil war (there was mention that the Tutsies shot down the president's plane shortly after a peace treaty was signed, but it's kinda hearsay), and, luckily, didn't show too many gruesome images. There was a scene where Cheadle and another man were driving down a road filled with dead bodies, but assuming nearly 800,000 people were killed with machetes, there was not a lot of blood and gore.

I think the best part of the movie was the fact that director Terry George and the production and screenwriting team did not sugarcoat the fact that, for the most part, the world couldn't have cared less about what was happening.

For example, early in the movie, the Belgian army comes to liberate the hotel. Well, at least they came to liberate the white patrons of the hotel. All the Rwandans stayed and the army left. Why? To quote Canadian peacekeeper Colonel Oliver (Nick Nolte), "You're not even niggers...you're Africans."

There is also a scene with President Clinton declaring over the radio that the US would do everything in its power to liberate its foreign nationals.

The most interesting part of the movie, however, was how the ethnic divide between the Tutsis and the Hutus came about. I was never really sure, but kinda figured it had something to do with a religious difference, or land, or something like that. Wrong.

Turns out that the Belgians that colonized Rwanda divided the citizens based on who looked the least black. The Tutsis were the Rwandans with lighter skin, and thinner noses (they actually measured their noses), and were given rule over the land. When the Belgians left, they left power to the majority Hutus (not sure why), so the Hutus basically got back at the Tutsis for years of oppression.

Overall, the movie was great. It's really rather depressing that it's not up for best picture, when something like Finding Neverland is. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad movie, but should definitely not been a top 5; one of those spots definitely belongs to Hotel Rwanda. Go see it.

No skiing

Unfortunately, the force of the sun was against us as we attempted to go skiing today. You see, Carley had to work a close last night, I'm not a morning person, and Carley's dad wanted to leave at the ungodly hour of 8 a.m. to go skiing.

Carley barely slept a wink and woke up feeling pretty awful, and, for that matter, her dad seems to have come down with a pretty nasty cold.

So, no skiing for us today, but we've rescheduled for Wednesday. We're going to go up to Barrie, spend the day there, and then go over to Carley's grandparent's condo. All in all, an even better plan than going today.

Skiing

Carley, her dad and I are going skiing at Blue Mountain tomorrow. For the record, the last time I skied was in about grade 7, and much of the time was spent either falling, fallen, or in the chalet.

I am considering attempting to snowboard, but I've heard that is much more difficult than skiing, and, like I said, I was sliding on the snow much more often than the skis were.

But, it should be a lot of fun. I'll try to remember to take pictures, but I'll probably forget.

Dance of Joy

I've been meaning to mention this for a while, but now's as good a time as any. But first, allow me to dance.



*Ya dadadadada ya dadadada*
This is the last season of Buzz
*Ya dadadadada ya dadadada*
No more Mista Mo
*Ya dadadadada ya dadadada*
No more Daren
*Ya dadadadada ya dadadada*

Thank you.

11:11

For about four days in a row now, I have looked at the clock at 11:11. I never seem to remember to make a wish, because, by the time I'm done thinking, "Holy crap, it's 11:11 again" it's 11:12. Or 12:45, depending on how I slept the night before.

Point is, the odds of doing that four days in a row is 20736:1. And, when you toss in last semester at school when I was usually driving at 11:11 and looked at the clock radio, the odds are even crazier. Weird, huh?

Damn, forgot to make a wish.

Heil Harper!



To quote the leader of the Official Opposition, the man who heads a party with 99 seats in the 308-seat House of Commons:

"Same-sex marriage is not a human right," but a "newly invented Liberal policy."

Now, this post is not about same-sex marriage, I think my position is fairly clear on this. This post is about Stephen J. Harper, or, as he is known at home, Hitler J. Fascist.

The man is actually suggesting that the Liberals "created" the concept of same-sex marriage?

Had the Liberals not won the past election, would homosexuals not want to get married?

I think the answer is clear: If Harper's Conservatives had won, there wouldn't be any homosexuals; they'd all wake up and realize that they were all mistaken. Or else.

Language Gestapo

I'm sure you've all seen those stupid.ca stop smoking ads, and I'm sure you've all gotten a few laughs out of them. I'll admit, they're actually pretty good (except for the dog park one, that's gross).

That is, until the newest: the toaster one! It makes sense, and I know exactly what it means, but still, language is very important, and if people are impressionable enough that commercials can make them break a cripplingly addictive habit, then this is a very dangerous ad.

The sudsy guy in the ad states: "There is about a one in 36,000 chance that you'll die making toast in the bathtub. But, if you smoke, there's a one in two chance you'll die."

Now, like I said, I know what they mean: smokers die as a direct result of smoking 50% of the time. However, when they word it the way they do, it suggests that if you and your friend start smoking, odds are that one of you will become immortal.

It's not good to use ambiguous statements like that. These ads are aimed primarily at young smokers, the same people who get their political agendas from Green Day and Eminem. Things need to be very clear, or they can be dangerous.

Milestone

Just inside of Innisfil, I passed 100,000 km on my Echo.

Carley's birthday

Unfortunately, even though I had the day booked off, I had to go in for a meeting at work which was basically a 30-minute meeting, with 45 minutes of coffee tacked onto the end.

As for Carley's birthday, she, her mum, her dad, and I went down to Toronto to look around the Eaton Centre and see a very good (albeit six-minute long) gymnastic display.

After that, we went next door to Nathan Phillips Square (now homeless person free! Way to sweep 'em under the rug, guys) to see a Dutch Cirque du Soleil-esque street troupe called Close Act.

I've always been a little scared of Cirque du Soleil, so seeing something like it up close (and I mean up close) should have been quite terrifying, but it was actually really great. It was definitely very entertaining, as the stiltwalkers and hot air balloons came right through the crowd and made you feel as if you were part of the show. And I have never seen such elaborate costume-work; it was completely out of this world. I really wish I'd brought my camera, but, under the circumstances, I would most likely have gotten a lot of pictures of the backs of people's heads.

But, I've gone on too long about the day, and not talked nearly enough about Carley. Once again she has proven that, despite my being a year-and-a-half older, she is far more mature and creative than I. I would not have even thought of such a wonderful event, but there she was, planning it all out.

It really was great, and I certainly hope you had a wonderful day!

(PS: I'm sorry I got you completely unromantic gifts, but I think it turned out OK...)

Happy birthday!

Today is Carley's birthday, so, without any further adieu, Happy Birthday, my dear!

New poem

Just dashed off a new poem.

Lacrosse Issues

My cousin Brandon is a goalie for the San Jose Stealth of the National Lacrosse League. During the off-season, the Stealth and Toronto Rock completed a trade that brought Anthony Cosmo - Toronto's backup goalie - to San Jose. The only problem: San Jose already had two goalies, my cousin and Rob Blasdell, and Cosmo is one of the top goalies in the league. What do you do with three goalies?

Well, apparently, the answer is, play Cosmo and sit the other two. Blasdell has played all of 42 minutes in five games, and Brandon has sat. Neither he nor Blazer are happy. Brandon has requested a trade a few times - ideally to Toronto - but has been told that he won't be traded unless the team can get another goalie in return (despite the fact that they don't know what to do with three as it is).

He and Blasdell have both threatened to holdout, but there is always the chance that the team could call their bluff and just let them sit there.

So, basically, they're both being flown out to San Jose to sit in the stands and watch. If that doesn't sound like too terrible of a punishment, just remember that all of these guys have second jobs because lacrosse pays peanuts (as in $250 if you don't dress), so they have to take time off from their jobs and be away from their families.

Oh, on one final note, I don't think anything bad about Cosmo. He's a crazy goalie and deserves to be a starter; but so do Blazer and Brandon.