Ahhh, Baconfest.

It's that time of year. While the rest of the world turns its attention to cinnamon hearts and "why don't I have a ring yet you slug" Diamond advertising, we of the Bombshelter turn our hearts, minds, and gastrointestinal tracts to Bacon.

For those who don't know, Baconfest began in the heady days of 1997, at the original 'shelter. It didn't really reach the epic, traditionally remembered proportions until 2001, with mightyoddking's "Bacon Cheesecake". It was then pronounced to be "on".

If you didn't put a real effort in in the following years. You got served.

Bacon, that is.

We saw a penchant grow with the bacon-derived dessert: following on the heels of Bacon Cheese cake came "Bacon Banana Cream Pie": Speaking as a hater of banana's, this sounds repulsive, but is remarkably delicious. Once again, mightyoddking ruled supreme.

Last year saw a resurgence in 'sweet' bacon dishes. there were several variants of candied bacon, Sweet'n'Spicy Bacon Tarts (idioglossia, Two-Layer Bacon Pie (myself), the Bacon Ceasar (sykomonkey), Stuffed Bacon Biscuits...

You know, it's probably easier if you just look at some pictures:



The Spread
Click to get to flickr and see the notes


BaconBowl Cream Cheese Mashed Potatos


Sweet'n'Spicy Bacon'n'Apple Tarts


Two-Layer Bacon Pie


And so, it's that time again. idioglossia and I will be hosting the greatness of Baconfest 2010 this year. Tentatively, and unless anyone complains about the date with gusto, this will be held on the 13th of February. You will likely need the address if you don't already know it. this is secondary information.

what you have to do is prepare a master dish to be shared. Appetizer, entrée, dessert, drink, snack, candy, whatever, as long as it's got pork product in it.

Pork, you say? I thought this was Baconfest? And you'd be right, it is. But we consider all fare from the sweetest of magical animals, the pig, to be fair game. Bacon is just one wonderful, wonderful cut. Loin, chop, sausage, ham, whatever strikes your fancy and can be molded into something new and daring, that is what we ask.

The date is decided. February 20th, 2010. The location will be idioglossia and my place. The time? Well, I'll be getting prepped all afternoon. I'm going to say 'doors open at 1pm, food should be on the table by 6:30pm" for those who need a specific time frame to work with.

So, speak up if you're coming. I've already got a plan in the works. And no, I'm NOT going to tell you what it is ahead of time.

Tags: 2010, bacon, baconfest, cooking, festival, food, ham, pig, pork

So, December 1st, 2009. Step on scale. 240lbs.[1]

Hmm.

Ok, it's NOT the worst I've been. That was back in 2004, when I hit 265lbs. And that 25lbs makes a difference. Still, I'm carrying too much, and it's mostly beer and bad portion sizes.

So, I started, slowly and quietly, doing something about it. I dropped a little, maintained through christmas, and got series in the last three weeks. This is NOT a resolution: i've done this before. I dislike New Year's resolutions, and I resolve not to make them.

I've been on the elliptical 45 minutes a day, five days a week. I'm bumping that up to six days a week, and probably up to an hour a day. I'm also watching what I'm eating. I found an app [2] called "Lose It", to help me track my intake, and more importantly for me, my intake vs exercise. What I'm finding is that I now have to work hard to get enough food in me to maintain the effort I'm putting out on a daily basis, so my body doesn't start hording. It's working. Not only is it working, but it's making me think about what I'm eating as well as how much: I've eaten healthier in the last two weeks than I have in... well, probably years. And I'm enjoying it.

Is it paying off?

Well, that 240lbs from December 1st is now 228lbs on January 18th. Is that a massive drop? No. But considering I got through Christmas flat[3] for two weeks, it's pretty good. And it's only going to get better. I'm currently aiming for 220lbs by early-to-mid February, and then 200lbs by early summer.

12lbs is 5% of what I weighed.

Part of the reason for that is, I need to find out what the best way for me to get around issues with shin splints. Why? Because I need to be able to do a 5km run.

And why do I need to be able to do a 5km run?

Because Spoonsie is busy talking me into doing a semi-introductory Sprint Triathlon. It consists of a 500m swim, a 22.8km bike, and 5km run. There is a shorter one (the Try-a-Tri) which is 200m swim, 13.3km bike, 2km run, but, if I'm going to do it, I should do it. I know I can do the swim and bike with a little training. The run is the issue, because I've always had issues with shin splints.

Which means, beyond what I've read on the subject, anyone got any ideas? Big reasons for shin splints seem to be 1] bad shoes, 2] bad running/walking posture and 3] bad shins. If it's not 3], I can fix it, and run. If it's 3], I'm looking for bicycle marathons.

Keep in mind, i'm NOT training for the Triathlon. Ie. I'm not quitting training once I've done it. I'm training because I need to get back in shape (as mightydogking will say "Less fat is still fat, fatty!"). I'm setting short term goals (weight in 20lb increments, Traithlon in June, possibly another one in fall if this goes well) to get down to somewhere between 180-200lbs, and more importantly, 'in shape'. Will I have chiselled abs? nah. that kind of effort isn't for me. But I will be in a 32" or 34" jean, med-to-large shirts (instead of 36-38" jean, and large-to-XL shirts), and I will have a level of endurance that I used to have, before the B12 collapse, and before I got lazy and lethargic of my own accord. (Because, no matter what a health freak tells you, it IS easier to sit on the couch and eat chips. It just IS. That's kinda the point.)

Also, while my diet right now is pretty good, I know what I like. I like good food, I like dessert, and I like booze. I'm not giving them up. I'll curtail them somewhat, but the reality is, I need to pay for the things I like: in this case, I don't pay in cash, I pay in exercise. Exercise is the real sweat-equity: it buys me poutine and Guinness and evenings of complete and utter indolence and debauchery.

Hey, at least I'm honest.

But it does mean that I have to keep at it. Or I return to 240lbs again. And no one wants to see that, least of all me.

( footnotes )

Tags: diet, exercise, health, triathlon, weight

I've 'written' all my life. I have no idea how many people know that. Ever since I was a little kid, I wrote stories. I've never been quite good enough (or quite dedicated enough) to get really far with it. There's people on my flist here (n8an, lookin' mostly your direction) who write and sell their work, successfully too. Me, not so much.

The first thing I remember writing, as a coherent story, was a piece about an invasion (of course it was, don't look so surprised). They showed us half a film in class, in grade five. They stopped the film, and told us to write the ending. Most of the kids wrote a couple of lines: I filled an exercise book (about eight small pages) in twenty minutes. A whole, coherent story. Turns out, the film was a slow-motion, macro film of a popcorn kernel popping. My story was... more involved. And of course, I was a ten year old boy. Stuff blew up.

After grade school, I never really talked about it with anyone. It wasn't 'cool'. I took the creative writing OAC course at my high-school, along with journalism courses, and did my co-op education at the University of Guelph's student paper, The Ontarian. I got to write another piece there, which is, honestly, horribly dated now, but was super fun at the time. That was when I really learned about the editors big red pen. I got away with writing a story about cloning and human rights for my OAC social studies class, too. I actually still kinda dig that one, even though it's so obviously Logan's Run with a more altruistic society it's not even funny.

And that was about it. I hit university, and dropped all my interests and hobbies in favour of parties, new friends, and the occasional class.

I regret nothing, by the way.

Slowly though, I started writing again. Mostly, things on livejournal, just general blogging crap about my life. I've never posted any fiction here; usually, it's life-stories, party-stories, thoughts on tech, politics etc. That makes it sound a lot more useful than it actually is, but, at the same time, writing is writing. Purging ideas and putting them on paper counts.

And about five years ago, I started writing fiction again, as well as observational pieces. Non of which ended up anywhere anyone I know could see them. I had a seperate blog for that, and it survived for, probably, three years.

And I quit on that, because, honestly, no one was reading it.

I'm about to try again. Some of that stuff from the last five years will make an appearance in the new blog. A lot of it won't: it'll stay where it belongs, buried.

But the reality is, I actually enjoy sharing my work. I'm well aware I'm unlikely to ever get paid for doing it, but I do enjoy writing it, and I do enjoy sharing it. You're welcome to take a looksee. I'm moving off it LJ (although I'm not abandoning boozysmurf and, much like the photo-a-day blog, I'm going to use Wordpress, unless anyone's got any other suggestions. I'm definitely not going to pay for a domain for this, although it's probably time I did that for my photography.

So, if you're interested, bookmark/head over to/add to your news reader of choice The Penguin Likes White Russians.

Tags: fiction, fucking around, writing

I mentioned a few weeks ago what was on my ‘hit’ list. Attention was paid.

Too much attention, actually.

My dad, gawdlovehim, avoided Modern Warfare 2 because my Xbox Live profile said i'd more than 50% completed it. Turns out, Jay had played through it on my account (his copy of the game) and got more than half the achievement points. Dad saw that, and assumed I'd bought it.

Dirt 2

What I did get from my folks, however, was Dirt 2. I approached it on Christmas Day with some trepidation: I'd tried the demo and wasn't thrilled. Turns out, the demo really doesn't do the game justice. With the wheel set up, this is a slightly-more-arcade-y-rally-sim-in-the-Colin-Macrae-vein (there's a lot of mention of Macrae in the pre-amble).

Where it really excels is the driver AI, which is not only brilliant, but each driver has a distinct personality (this also occurs in Forza3), and the off-road car physics are exceptional. I use my Microsoft wheel exclusively for racing games now, and the feel through it is brilliant: the transitions from gravel to pavement kick you in the hands, and the feel of grip going away in a drift is excellent. Beyond that, the game is smart enough to let you perform a credible Scandanavian Flick, something that I've never pulled off in a game before: neither the control, the responsiveness, nor the physics were able to keep up with the technique.

Color me stunned.

Where the game doesn't keep up, however, is the 'modification' process. You can tune the car each race, but it's only a five-point scale from "high" to "low" for each of six items (like differential, or ride hight). Not what I'm used to from Forza or Grid. however, it's effective, and produces a noticable difference in handling and performance. Unless you're a hardcore car-guy, who has to make changes in everything, you'll be happy with it.

Which brings me to... a 4 out of 5 rating. It's really good, and I didn't expect it to be. It's difficult without being impossible, there's a good range of tracks and locations. The vehicle list is a little light, but again, spoiled by Forza3.

The girlfriend, however, went insane. I think she decided that there was nothing but Xbox games on the market this year.

SCORE.

Assassin's Creed 2

Everything you've heard about Assassin's Creed 2 is true. All the repetition issues from the first one appear solved (i'm not bored, that's for sure, and I've not run into any issues with having to 'grind' to progress). The controls are, if anything, even better than the first one. Everything is a perch or handhold, and you can climb EVERYTHING.

I think I've got about 8 hours into this one. The story's unfolding brilliantly, the combat is reasonably fluid: the only fall down is the transition from "guard" and "counter" to "attack" is... clunky. I recommend assassination rather than direct confrontation, where you can.

But when you get those counters to work properly, and quickly, you get a bunch of different ones, depending on how your opponent is moving, and they are brilliant. Also, bloody. Also, brilliant. Moving around the city has the same ridiculous fluidity, climbing, running, or swinging from ropes around corners. I saw the commercials for the swinging, especially, and figured it was just cut-scene material.

It isn't.

And it's so intuitive. YOu can just do it. Chasing down assassins and couriers on rooftops has become one of the most fun things in the game, and it's a side-job at best. But it's so much damn fun.

The new bit, the discovering (and running) your own little villa/city is also kinda cool. I've not done a lot of that yet, but I can see it being an awesomely fun mini-game.

What it comes down to with Assassin's Creed is that there's just a lot to do. It's a ridiculous bang-for-your-gaming-buck. And it's got really broad appeal: there's very little learning curve, you can just get in and "do". that's a hell of an accomplishment for any game, but particularly one with this much depth to it.

Batman: Arkham Asylum

It's a hell of a thing when a game can be a well-established franchise game, AND not suck. Batman has been huge hype the last couple of years, thanks to Bale and Ledger, and it would have been really, really easy for any manufacturer to cop out, and stick the Batman name on a crappy game, knowing it'd make money because of the name.

This is not what happened with Batman: Arkham Asylum. Because what they did was make a bloody brilliant game, and then put Batman in it. They could have invented characters to fit the mood and gameplay, but as ti works with Batman, and especially as you rarely see inside Arkham Asylum properly, it made for a good fit.

Again, I've not got more than a few hours invested in this one yet, but the cut-scenes are, so far, flawless, the story seems brilliant; they've absolutely not Romero'd up the Joker: he's obviously bat-shit crazy and deeply disturbed, and the whole cast of baddies is showing up (is it bad that Harley Quinn is haaaawwwt? I mean, for a computer rendering. *ahem*. there's a multitude of corpses strewn around before you can do anything. Nice touch.

Like Assassin's Creed 2, it's very open, and very about not being seen. Throw in the weapons (where does he get those wonderful toys?) and crazy acrobatic fighting techniques, AND gliding down to kill baddies what can't see you coming, and using your grapple to get around?

Yeah, lots to do, lots to see, and crazy inventive ways to kill people.

I've read a few reviews that call this one an "open world sandbox style game" and it really isn't. While you're free to go anywhere you want, and i've not really run into any time constraints yet, it's not 'big' enough to really qualify as sandbox. However, your freedom of movement within the style of game is something I've not seen before. I can see why they've latched onto "sandbox" to describe it.

One issue I have with it is that there's a cutscene every time you yank off a ventilation cover to get into the vents, or kick one out to get out. It's not a really long cut scene, about four seconds, but REALLY? Every time you go in or out of the vents? that's gonna get old really quick. My brother mentioned it while watching me for ten or fifteen minutes, and it played a dozen or so times. It's neat, but ... unnecessary. here and there would be good, every time is too much.

I'm scraping for criticisms on both this and Assassin's Creed though, because there really isn't a lot to criticize.

Still to come: Lego Batman, and Borderlands. Lego Batman, well, it's lego, and it's Batman, and you can't go wrong with those games for sheer fun. Borderlands, I've only put an hour or so into, so I don't have the time in it yet to make a call, but so far, superbly promising. It's got an old school vibe to it that I love.

Tags: assassin's creed 2, batman:arkham asylum, borderlands, dirt 2, games, lego batman, xbox, xbox360

I found, the other day, all my old riding logs from 2005-2008. I know what was “on the clock for the last 18 months as well.

And it’s time for a new bike.

I’m going to make the effort to disassemble my current bike, a Devinci Stockholm, and see if I can piece it back together (I’ve never actually done that, so it’ll be a learning experience), but I’ve got just shy of 30,000km on that bike since I bought it in 2004.

Yes, you read that right.

So, as it was a mid-level bike, component wise, and it’s never had a major rebuild, it’s definitely time, and it’s realistically time for a new one, especially given what I know about my riding habits these days, too.

Which is pretty cool.

Partly because, I’ve had a hankering for a few years for a Marin. One of the reasons I didn’t get one when I got the Devinci was that I really wanted the 700c wheel/tire size, due to distance riding. At the time, the Marin was only available with smooth, street, 26” MTB tires. Good, but not great, for what I wanted. As a commuter, and banging around town, pretty freakin’ awesome. Especially as the Marin Muirwoods in question is hardcore stealth in appearance.

However, two years ago, Marin released the Muirwoods 29er, and it became my dream bike.





So, the why is the question right? For once, I have ABSOLUTELY no question as to which bike I’ll get. The decision was made when I test-rode one, two years ago. The question will be “what size frame” and “when”.

Comparatively, the bikes look like this:

Brand/Model	Devinci Stockholm (2004)	Devinci Stockholm (2010)	Marin Muirwoods	Marin Point Reyes 29er
Component
Frame	Aero Hybrid/touring 6061 aluminum	Stockholm 6061 Aluminum	cromoly 29er	6061 Aluminum
Front Derailleur	Shimano Nexave T401	Shimano Alivio M410	Shimano C-100	Shimano Deore
Rear Derailleur	Shimano Alivio MC20SGS	Shimano Altus M311	Shimano Deore	Shimano Deore
Crankset	Truvative Five D	FSA DynaDrive 48/38/28T	Truvativ X-Flow C.3.0 48/38/28	TruVative Fire D 3.1 26/36/48
Wheels	Alex DA16/Shimano RM40	Formula/DBM-1 doublewall	Alex TD20 double wall	WTB Laser Disc Trail
Tires	Michelin transworld City 700x32c	Innova IA-2209 700x35c	Continental 29"x1.6" urban	29”x1.6” Continental Town Ride
Brakes		Tektro 837AL (caliper)	Hayes MX-4 mechanical disc (6" rotor)	Hayes MX-4 mechanical disc (6” rotor)

The Stockholm, old and new, are aluminum, which is an advantage over the Cromoly of the Muirwoods. However, you pay for the weight reduction. What I’d be getting in trade (beyond the obvious 29” wheels) is a crankset and derailleur assembly which is two to three orders better built than I have currently. Shimano derailleur hierarchy. You do get what you pay for in the jump from Alivio to Deore. They’re more durable, more efficient, and smoother operating. They’re more designed for the type of riding I do (distance, greater than the average rider does, more regular riding than the average too) without any drop-off in performance.

And I have to say, the Alivio have been much, much more durable than I expected after the reviews I read. I’ve never disassembled and re-built the ones on my Stockholm. I need to, now, and they’ll never be quite the same (partly because I don’t have the skills yet: but that’s one reason I’m going to do it), but they have been excellent. Now that the dollar is close to parity, I’ll get a bike that would have been $1000cdn or more, when I looked at my Stockholm in 2004, for about the same as I paid for it ($719, after tax). A little more, looking at this years pricing, but not a lot more.

On top of that, the Muirwoods 29er gets a decent set of disc brakes, which I’m also a fan of: I’ve always had problems keeping brakes “set” properly so they don’t rub the wheel on the grip point, or making them “back off” again, after releasing the brake lever. Disc brakes, on bikes as on cars, make sense to me.

So, after six years of hard labour, my Devinci will probably migrate to my parents place, so that I can ride around the island without having to worry about bringing a bike (after the rebuild, of course). The Muirwoods 29er will become my primary bike, a well deserved reward, and also, incentive to get my fat ass back out there daily again, and get some exercise.

The only question for me is going to be… (and why it got included) will I throw the boat out, when I do it, and get the Point Reyes 29er instead. It doesn’t have the wicked-matte-black paint, but does get all-aluminum instead of cromoly, and a full Deore set, instead of Alivio shifters, and a higher-end Truvative crankset, with lighter wheels.

So many toys, so little time!

Tags: bicycle, bikes, devinci, marin

That was crazy!

Barely slept at all last night; just couldn’t nod off, despite crawling into bed at 10pm, and reading for ten minutes. I was tired, I knew I was tired, it just wasn’t happening. Around 11pm, the cold really started setting in, and the gunshots started. Bang’s and cracks’ from outside, as the liquid in trees started to freeze and expand quickly (the temperature dropped nearly 20oC, from about 0oC, in less than two hours, and the wind picked up to somewhere around 35km/h bringing a windchill of around -32oC). That, combined with the added weight from the freezing rain over the weekend, and tree branches were shattering from the inside.

Crazy shit, I’ve not heard it like this since ’98.

Around 5am, the whole house shuddered and shook, to the same sound. I went out this morning when Jay picked me up at 6:30, and did a quick look around, and I didn’t see anything on the roof. To settle idioglossia’s mind (and, honestly, my own) I’ll be sticking my head into the attic to take a quick look-around to make sure there’s no holes in the roof, but I really don’t think there are. It was a deeper shake than something just hitting.

People around work (and I have no idea how accurate this is) are saying that the ground was freezing/expanding in the same way as the trees. With the rain we’ve had in the last two days, that wouldn’t surprise me, that’s for sure. They’re saying the ground actually compresses the foundation and you get a quick “settle” to the building. It’s unlikely to damage anything, but you feel and hear it, and it’s disconcerting to say the least.

No idea. Now, I'm hearing that people heard the same thing, at the same time, Orleans to Kanata. Totally bizarre.

Tags: nature, ottawa, weather, wtf

Call Centre - $34-37K

IT Support analyst - $49-62k

Both close in the next week or so, so, if you're gonna apply, get to it NOW.

Tags: cra, jobs, ottawa

If you know us, you’re welcome to come by on Christmas Eve for general frivolity. My folks are showing up (with my little brother and his wife in tow, and probably two retarded little dogs) sometime on Christmas Even, and [Bad username: ”idioglssia”] and I have decided to throw the door open. I’m pretty sure we’ll have some general munchies around, and likely a big bottle of Bailey’s (and coffee to apply it to).

I used to do the Christmas Eve open-door when I was still living at home, and it was always really low-key fun. Now we have a house, and the folks are gonna be around, I’m thinking it’s a perfect time to resurrect the tradition. No obligations to show, obviously, family first. But the door will be open to our extended family.

So, keep it in mind, there will be another reminder closer to the date.

Tags: christmas, christmas booze, christmas eve

Years ago, before I got my D70s, I had a point'n'shoot Canon. Specifically, the still decent S500. technically, I stil have this camera, although I've lent it out a few times, and I've lost track of where it is: I think notmikesince91 still has it somewhere. However, what I've been looking at recently is the proliferation of "adventure" point'n'shoots.

I'm not replacing my dSLR with a point'n'shoot anytime soon, but there are definitely times when I'd like to have a small, easily portable camera, especially one that's shock proof and waterproof, something that I don't have to worry about breaking. Admittedly, $350 isn't "throw away" money, but it's a lot more handle-able than $1500 for a dSLR that gets bashed out on a boat.

I also don't know if I'm even going to get one of those, however. It's STILL $350.

However, there are a couple of good ones on the market by the look of things. Top of the list for me is the Canon D10. It's a little chunkier than some of the others, but it is apparently tough as nails, and waterproof to 35ft (where most of them are "pool proof" to about 10ft). It's also using the latest varient of the Canon P'n'S operating system, which a bunch of us are familiar with, and it's using the latest version of the DIGIC processor, the DIGIC IV. My S500 was a DIGIC II camera, as was mightydogking's SD800. At 10mp it's waaaaaaay more than I actually care about for print size, and the 3x optical zoom is at least average.





Also in the mix is the suprising Olympus Tough 8000. The problem I have with this one is that Olympus is iffy on lens and sensor quality. When they get it right, they actually get it really, really right, but when they get it wrong (like they do every time in their cheap cameras) it's freakin' awful. This one does come in around the same price as it's competitors, and is waterproof to an equally happy-making 35ft. It doesn't look quite as shock-proof as the canon, but looks can be decieving. Where the Canon looks a little like "baby's first digital camera" the Samsung is all stainless steel and sliding closures, with a big screen on the back. In essence, it looks like a regular digital point'n'shoot, with the advantage of being water proof to one atmosphere. It also has the advantage of a 5x optical zoom. Most reviews I've seen describe the image quality as "adequate". Which, compared to "disappointing ... even if you don't expect stellar quality (Olympus Tough 6010)".





As always, I'm making NO mention of digital zoom. Digital zoom is for marketing purposes ONLy, it doesn't actually help you at all. You never use it, if you want to maintain picture quality.

*ahem* that's my rant.

So, I'm surprisingly interested in these point'n'shoots. they finally do something for me that I can't realistically get out of a dSLR.

Just so you know, a waterproof/shockproof casing for a dSLR, suitible for swimming or diving, costs about twice as much as the camera itself.

So, it's time to at least assemble a list of these truly waterproof (rather than water resistant, you'll only fall for that marketing once) point'n'shoot cameras. Good for people's backyard pools, the cottage, out on the folks boat, and generally, good for not worrying about whether or not I break it, or if I've got to bring a backpack with me to carry all my gear.

Because, lets face it, we all know I love my dSLR. However, there are times when you just want to be able to record the candids, and don't need to decide which lens to use, and how to light everything. I've been reading a lot about pro's who carry a point'n'shoot with them just so that they don't have to carry their gear everywhere, but (especially when it comes to landscapes, and fixed things) they can snap 'an idea' then return to the location because they've already processed the image from the point'n'shoot, and it's fixed the location/idea in their mind. I've considered this for a long time, but I've not really got round to it. But with waterproof thrown into the barrel, at the price-point that I like (not too cheap to make crappy pictures, but not too expensive to worry about trashing the camera) and a nice fast system (off to shooting in <1sec) with 10mp for making prints for idioglossia and my "candid" wall, it becomes a lot more attractive.

The other option, of course, is that I get a “photographer’s point’n’shoot”, otherwise known as a pocketable Near-SLR. There’s really only one option that I’ve found in this particular category: most near-SLR’s tend to be only slightly smaller than a consumer level dSLR, but with a fixed lens, and often a huge zoom. And that’s great, but for me, it defeats the purpose and point.

The option then, at this level, is the Canon G11. It offers a few things that are attractive to me as a photographer. Top of the list is that with the combination of a slightly, physically larger sensor than the above point’n’shoots, and the ability to shoot in .RAW format, it gives me very close to the image quality of my SLR. At the same time, it is actually small enough o pocket (assuming reasonably loose-fitting pants pockets). The G11 also does 720p HD video, limited in duration only by the size of the memory card. The only thing it doesn’t offer is waterproof. And really, that could be a wonderful gimmick for me, but I’m not convinced it’s essential. Tempting, yes, but essential… not quite. For me, the G11 is really cool... as a carry-around photographer's camera. As a "getting-loaded-with-friends" camera, it's still too much, and too expensive to replace, and too likely to get busted up.

What else is there in the waterproof/shockproof world?

Not a lot.

The Fuji Finepix z33wp. idioglossia will immediately notice that it's pink (It's available in other colours, but only if you shop around. There's obviously a target demographic for this camera, and I'm not it). Picture quality is soft, but not bad, I'm really surprised, considering that this camera is half the cost of the Canon D10, and Olympus 8000. Also, the underwater video is better than the real-world video: it deals with colour and light better from what I saw, when it's underwater. All in all, it's actually not bad, although not as tough as the Canon or Samsung, which is something I'm interested in having. It also loses it completely (as do many cameras) by the time you get up to ISO 800, and ISO 1600 is strictly for advertising purposes.



Fuji Finepix Z33WP


Finally, there's the Pentax Optio W80, review here. Like Olympus, I've always found Pentax point'n'shoots (if you'll pardon the pun) hit and miss. It's got shock resistance inbetween the Canon and Olympus, and waterproof to around 16ft (probably further, but they qualify it at that level) vs the Canon and Samsung.





However, for once, the Pentax shines when it comes to actual shooting. The images (12mp) are not bad, the 5x zoom is effective, (if dark at the zoom end, at f/5.5), but even more intriguing to me is that it shoots 720p HD movies. For the price (in the same range as the Canon and Samsung) of $379.99, that's an unexpected feature. The downside is is the mono microphone.

Overall, it looks like the Canon has the best image quality, middling durability/waterproof, and is the largest in size. The Olympus is most durable, but picture quality is average. The Fuji is... pink, and middle of the road on all features. The Pentax is durable, small, and has an HD movie mode, which none of the others have. It appears to also have the most average picture quality (on paper).

Which would I pick?

I think I'd write off the Fuji right away. The Canon is a familiar friend, but it's also really lumpy, and has the lowest zoom level. I think I'd probably go with the Olympus Tough 8000, and the Pentax would be a toss-up, mostly because of the HD video. I'd probably have to weigh that against the reputedly lack-lustre photo quality. I'd also have to play with all of 'em, I think, too.

That's right. No decision at all, but a lot of looking!

Tags: cameras, canon, fuji, pentax, point & shoot, samsung

It's nothing but warranty with me at the moment, I swear.

First, the car (Hyundai has been awesome). Next, the tires (also, awesome, and to be dealt with seperately). Then, headphones.

I came to the conclusion two months ago that I just wasn't going to get the bluetooth stereo headset of my dreams. So, I went looking for replacement wired headphones. There's a remarkable lack fo aftermarket that actually retain the iPhone functionality (ie. play/pause button, microphone, etc) that I really quite like. After a lot of shopping around, I settled on V:Moda Vibe Duos.





And they were great... for six weeks.

Now, every time I move, at all, the wires coming out of the plug bend/disconnect. You know, the way they used to on cheap headphones in the '80's? And I lose one ear, then it comes back, then it goes again, then it comes back. Generally, ten or fifteen times in twenty seconds. It's definitely the base of the wire, at the connector/plug, as I can make it 'cut out' by tapping that wire. It is, of course, also the right side earphone that cuts signal: the one with the mic and start/stop button on it.

Needless to say, it's irritating, and thoroughly unacceptable on a set of headphones that have an MSRP of $100 or so.

Of course, I have to pay for shipping to the US. In fact, as far as is humanly possible in the US. Hollywood California, specifically.

And, of course, buried in the fine print of the warranty is this:

This warranty does not cover ... or any other third party purchases from unauthorized distributors. Transfer of V-MODA products through unauthorized distributors renders this warranty null and void.

Which, unfortuantely, means my first effort is to find out if Amazon.com qualifies as an "unauthorized distributor". At the same time, what the hell is an unauthorized distributor? You sell thirty boxes of a product to someone, they're obviously selling it, but you're going to invalidate the warranty of the people who buy from that person? WTF? (that is the way I read it, I could be wrong).

Now, I would assume that Amazon.com is a valid retailer: they probably sell enough to quailfy, but seriously, wtf is that bullshit?

I totally get them not warrantying 'phoney' stuff. But stuff that they made, and customers bought in good faith? That seems a little off.

Of course, I am, right now, assuming the worst. I don't know how long the process will take, either, which means I'm sans-headphones in the interim, too, which also blows. I use the player part of the phone constantly, three to five hours a day (especially now that I'm walking to work again).

Which means I’ll probably do what I didn’t want to have to do in the first place. I’ll have to buy the (relatively cheaper) iPhone headphones to use in the interim, until my warranty set come back, unless someone’s got a suggestion for aftermarket’s that work on the iPhone, and have the mic/button on the wire?

Tags: headphones, iphone, vmoda, warranty

Well, all is well. The tires are good, the vibration is gone, and I'm a happy camper. I also have a tire shop to recommend to people.

Frisby Tire on Industrial Road, Ottawa.

As I'd set up with them, last Wednesday I drove over at 11am and handed the keys over. I chatted with the guys behind the counter a bit, who're all car guys. They were running a little behind schedule, so, I ended up sitting and waiting for a while. Around 11:45, they got the car into the shop, got the tires off, and started testing.

After about twenty minutes, the service desk guy came and got me, and walked me out to the shop. They showed me that there didn't appear to be anything wrong with the tires, rather, the problem was the installation. They were EXCEPTIONALLY professional: it was fairly obvious to me that the problem was a bad installation in the first place: the tires hadn't been properly seated on the rims, so, while they were sealing, they weren't straight. This means, they just couldn't be balanced properly. The guys at Frisby dis-mounted the tires completely, re-installed them, and re-balanced them. They walked me through each step, so that I knew what was going on, and why they were doing it, and they were superbly professional (I'm repeating that because it bares repeating).

They put everything back together, of course, and the service guy took me back into the reception area. He explained that they don't really know what the problem was, and that the larger (18"+) winter tires are difficult to mount properly too. Never once did he shift any blame onto the other shop, even though it would have been easy, and accurate, to do so. He then sent me on my way, free-of-charge.

That's right, they fixed an installation problem that was DEFINITELY not covered under warranty, that was, honestly, another shops mistake, for free. That's good customer service. They had every erason to at least charge me for re-installing and re-balancing the tires (about $70, most likely).

More importantly, he gave me his card, and told me that he was pretty sure that would solve the problem, but if it didn't, bring it back, and they'd take another look at the tires to see where the problem was.

The deal is, I'm impressed (as you might imagine) and I like to spread the love when I find a good service organization, in any shape or form. Frisby has higher prices than other places I'd checked out, for sure, and I'm sure that has a bearing on them being able to do the occasional "freebie" like this.

But at the end of the day, they stepped up and dealt with a problem that wasn't there: they were helpful, friendly, polite, and understanding, and most importantly, honest and respectful: of their own guys, the customer, and the competition.

Compare that to the kiss off I got from Commercial Tire, and you can see why I'm recommending them.

And yes, I will be collating the entire story into a letter, to send to both Frisby's manager, Frisby's corporate, as well as Commercial Tire's manager, and corporate.

Tags: bad service, car, commercial tire, frisby tire, good service, service, tires, winter tires

idioglossia: We're sitting behind a criminal in leg irons. Jesus!
boozysmurf: Is he wearing an orange jumpsuit?
idioglossia: The guys escorting him bought him Tim's! They're all chatty and shit! Jesus! Dude is telling them his life story!
boozysmurf: Is it Nicholas Cage?
boozysmurf: You're in a MOVIE!!
idioglossia: No! And he's so fucking chatty.
boozysmurf: You'd better be writing it all down.
idioglossia: Kill me now.

They're starting to spread-out new-game season these days, so that they're not tripping over their own releases all the time, but late fall is always heavy on new games, just in time for Christmas.

That's both a blessing and a curse, because a] you can only buy so many games at once, and b] eventually, you have to stop buying things for yourself, start buying them for other people, and hope that you get some of the stuff you neglected from Santa.

Santa is an XBOX player, by the way. Him and Lee Majors.





I digress.

So, this year's got a bumper crop. It started, for me, with Forza Motorsports 3. I've been waiting years for this one, I We, as in, Jay and I, never finished Forza Motorsports 2. We tried really hard. I think we got to about 85% complete, with all of what we had complete as gold medals, on hard. The only "driving assists" we leave on now are ABS (on the high powered cars) and the braking line, because otherwise, we'd totally overshoot every corner. Forza 3 is evolution, not revolution, there's no doubt about that. There's a ton of new tracks, new cars, as you'd expect, but the physics are better than ever, and so is the AI. The AI isn't sheer aggression now, each driver has a distinct personaility, and they drive to that style. It makes for much, much better racing, and you'll often see AI cars either leading the pack, or wrecking on corners, just because that particular driver is aggressive: sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

I'm also picking up (will have picked up) Left 4 Dead 2 today. I thoroughly enjoyed the first game, and I'm looking forward to the new one immensely. I've already heard good things from people who had it queued up on Steam when it was released on Tuesday, but I shall be sticking to my console of choice.






What else is on the list? Well, like I said, it's a good season!

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Assassin's Creed 2

HALO 3: ODST

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Borderlands

Fallout 3

I've heard nothing but good things about Fallout 3 from mightydogking and elhulk

There's more than that, too. But, while I plan on getting BioShock2, I've still not played through BioShock yet, and I'm planning on doin' that first, especially as it's a $20-or-so title now. I'll probably pick up Need For Speed: Shift sometime, too, but after reading the reviews, it's not one that I'm willing to pay $70 for. More likely, I'll wait until it hits $35 or so, mostly because the NFS franchise has become distinctly hit-or-miss.

On top of the stuff that I want for the Xbox, I'm also starting to peruse Nintendo Wii games, for idioglossia. Not that I'm going to say here WHICH ones.

I've heard, from elhulk and mightydogking is bloody brilliant. This is probably one I have to try out, even though I'm a year behind now. Borderlands looks cool, but by all reports, only comes alive in a group. So, I won't get htat until other people that I know start getting it, too. Arkham Asylum? I have no idea. Could be fun though. Halo3:ODST I definitely want. I've loved all of the Halo games so far, and this appears to mix things up a little bit. And the environments look fantastic. CoD:ModernWarfare2 is also a must buy: Jay wants it, and so does mightydogking which means we get all snipey and shooty.

mightydogking is playing Assassin's Creed 2 right now. SO, I'm waiting for the report on that one.

Tags: video games, xbox 360

I had a whole thing started, new vs used, on current new cars. I've just tossed it. The impetus for the write-up in the first place was that idioglossia had made up her mind to start the process to go get her license, and would be car shopping inside of eighteen months.

However, the Examiners are on strike, and have been since the end of August, so she's kinda stuffed, right now, along with a lot of other people.

What we've done though, is started looking: because she's.. picky. And I mean that as a compliment. I consider myself exceptionally picky when it comes to cars: I love lots, I buy few and I expect to get the best for what I want. She wants something functional, that also has some style. That's a good place to start. When I help someone (and this comes up a lot more often than you'd think) buy a car, I get them to ask themselves some questions:

What's your budget?

What do you want it to do, what is the majority of the use?

What would you like in the way of features and conveniences?

It's funny, to me, how many people approach buying a car without any idea of what or even why they want one. I've always been a car-guy, but I've never had particularly cool cars, until recently. I had big, old, 4- and 5- door beaters, V8's, people movers[1] nothing that could be qualified as "a driving experience". That changed in 2007 when I bought my 2003 Acura RSX, and changed even more when I got the 2010 Genesis Coupe early this summer. But I knew what I wanted and what I was getting: fun, sporty, two-door, let-other-people-carry-shit-around-for-the-first-time cars. It's what I went looking for.

idioglossia has a couple of set requirements. I've given this same advice, running through the questions, to clumsy_me recently, too, as she's also in the market. So, run through the questions. (ok, this is a bit old now, as clumsy_me has bought her new car, even though I've not seen it yet, but now livelife73 is also looking, too, and this might help).

What's your budget?

This is a big one. And it's not simple. You can't just say "I can afford $20,000 for a car" and go buy a $19,999 car. Not only is there tax (about $2000) there's also delivery/freight ($1100-$2000) and options: I mention options because on some models, you can almost double the price of the car with options, and you will almost NEVER want a base-model: so you're not likely to get the advertised price.

That's the 'up-front' cost. Then there's ancilliary costs. yes, you bought a new car. Yes, it's got a warranty. That warranty, however, doesn't cover things like: oil changes, scheduled tune-ups, brakes, suspension wear (but does cover failure of same), etc, etc. You have to budget for those things, and they can be expensive. Example: the clutch on my car will run anywhere from $2000-5000 with labour, if it's not a failure situation, just wear. Eventually, that's a job i'll have to pay for. An oil-change, with synthetic, on a used Mercedes? Nearly $120 if you pay to get it done, still around $70 if you do it yourself. How thirsty is your new-car-to-be? Can you afford $100 a month in gas? $200? $300+ if you have a full size truck in mind, and commute in it?

So, can you afford THOSE costs? My car, I bought a maintenance package, covers oil changes for 5-6 years, basic wear and tear (tire and rim breakage, interior cloth/leather damage, etc). I figure that's a good investment. Otherwise, that's cost I'd incur.

The other consideration is insurance. You may be able to afford your $500 a month car payments, but a requirement of any finance or lease is that the car must be fully insured. You can't park it if you're broke, and take the insurance down to fire/theft. I know some guys (usually, it's guys) have had quotes for insurance that are larger monthly payments than they're making on the car (ie. $320/month for a three year old Honda Civic). FOr a lot of people, that's a non-issue, they won't have that problem, but alway, always, always get your insurance quote before you sign anything towards the purchase of the car.

For idioglossia we're still in the early stages of the search: her price-range is between $16,000 and $32,000 (which is a huge range!) and everything we've put on the list so far has insurance between $120 and $160 a month. That's affordable.

So, that's cost.

What do you want it to do?

I cannot believe how many people just don't know what they plan to use the car for, beyond "driving it". Are you going to commute? Will you carry larger cargo in it? Are you moving a family around in it? What are your basic supplies that go with you when you go somewhere?

One of the things I suggested to clumsy_me was that anytime she test-drove a car, she take her guitar case with her, and make sure it fits in the trunk of anything that she's looking at. That's potentially a big issue for her: she won't always ahve the room to put it in the passenger compartment, or even the desire, if she's got to leave it out in the car, parked, and a target for B&E's.

For idioglossia, she wants a hatchback/wagon. She wants to be able to carry people if and when necessary, a medium to large size dog, and/or renovation and gardening supplies. There's also the potential for family-based requirements[2] Based on that, she's written off a lot of vehicles. What we've also found is, much to my chagrin, she's going to have to look at some of the more carlike/smaller CUV's[3]. That's not a step either of use had expected to make.

What do you want in features and conveniences?

You'd think this was pretty much the second question revisited, but it really isn't. While the previous question was "what do you want it to do?" this is more "what would you like it to be like while you do that?"

We're talking about size, fuel economy, heated seats, bluetooth, power lift-gates, drive-train, handling characteristics. Yes, they factor in on the second question, but the second question is more 'must have' to make the purchase worthwhile, this becomes "how do I make the time in the vehicle better, more comfortable, and more fun, and keep it under budget".

If you're commuting daily, a major factor will be fuel economy. When it comes to fuel economy, when you've made that a priority, you have choices: a small, efficient gas engine? a stump-pulling workhorse of a turbo-diesel? A hybrid system that turns the gas engine off when you're crawling along in traffic?

idioglossia is looking for, in her hatchback/wagon, something closer to mid-size (room for 4, a dog, and luggage, or drop the seats down and get an antique sideboard in the back). That narrows her choices, and is a 'must have'. There's only one hybrid on the the market right now that fits that, the Ford Escape Hybrid[4]. She also wants fuel economy. Not a priorty, but high on the list. To me, that says efficient gas, or great diesel engine. Some of the VW's would give her nearly 60mpg on the highway (3.9L/100km) in a 6spd Diesel. Definitely on the list.

I also know that she will have to have heated seats. Its a thing she has. The good news is, a lot of cars come with them standard now.

What configuration starts to come in here. Jay, those who know him, will only buy RWD[5]. Given the option, I'm the same, but I'm also more forgiving, and have bought FWD[6] before, too. For what idioglossia’s looking at, it's less of an issue, so she's looking at FWD, and the benefits of AWD[7] She's also looking at small, efficient gas engines (2.0L and under) and Turbo Diesel's. This gives some more options within her field.

How much power are you looking for? (Moar Powah!) How much fuel economy are you willing to trade off, and vice versa, power for fuel economy? Engines run the gamut from 3 cyclinder (upcoming VOLT hybrid), 4 cylinder (every compact car on the market), 4-cylinder diesel (rare), 5-cylinder (some Volvo’s and Chevy’s), 6-cylinder V- (domestic and Asian market) and Inline (German and some Japanese), 8-cylinder (trucks and luxury cars, sports cars), 10-cylinder (sports cars) 12-cylinder (Grand Tourers) and 16-cylinder (Bugatti Veyron). Displacement plays a role in this decision too: 4-cylinder engines, by far the most common engines on the market these days, come in sizes from 1.0L to nearly 3.0L displacement, with any number of power-adders like Turbo- or Super-chargers. All of these things affect power and fuel economy.

Then there’s the ‘wants’. This is everyone’s favorite bit, really, because this is where you throw reason out the door to get the stuff that’s cool.

The trick is not to make any given gadget or thing a deal breaker. This are wants: they don’t affect what the vehicle can do for you, but they can push the price up significantly. Especially these days, because everything comes in a package with a check-box on the order sheet. So, you want a sunroof? Ok, that’s a $900 option. No biggie. Except that it comes in the sport package, not by itself. That means you have to buy the bigger wheels, stickier tires, wing on the trunk lid, and GPS system (hypothetically). Suddenly, your $900 sunroof is costing you $4300, and there’s no other way to get it. So, your $18,999 base price has swollen to 24,299, before tax and delivery. Your $20,000 car is now on its way to being a $30,000 car.

For idioglossia, I know she wants heated seats. Those are pretty much non-negotiable. I also know she really likes the dual-sunroofs (panorama style) and thinks those would be brilliant to have. Fold-flat seats and under-floor storage, also desirable for her. iPod support in the stereo, definitely worthwhile as she’s an iPod devotee. Cruise control is also a must. She also loves the idea of the clutchless manual transmission: an automatic would do fine, and a true, three-pedal manual, she’d totally learn to use (especially after playing with three pedals in a Mini). But what she’d really like, so far, is a clutchless SMG-style transmission. Transmissions are a post unto themselves, but basically, she’s looking for a manual with no clutch, rather than an automatic that you can shift on the go.

All these things cost extra.

Which means you have to budget for them, or be willing to go without.

Finally, safety.

Safety is something that people pay for, hand over fist. But they don’t need to, a lot of times. Companies are using safety features as selling points, but honestly, they’re not. Most of the features they’re using as selling points are now mandated by law, on every vehicle. We’re about a year behind the USA on some of this (for example, every 2010 vehicle in the US is mandated to have traction control (TCS) and stability control: that’s new for 2010. That hasn’t happened in Canada yet).

However, the list of features that are mandatory in Canada are:

1] ABS
2] Front driver and passenger airbags, plus side airbags.
3] Daytime Running Lights
4] crumple zones meeting MTO/NHSTA testing
5] crash testing and a rating based on that standard
6] side-impact protection

So, there’s not an awful lot out there in the way of safety features that you need to pay for.

Traction Control does have it’s use. However, a badly implemented TCS is problematic, too. I find mine is over-done. I’ve pulled out, in first gear, knowing that if I stand on the gas, I can easily make the hole in traffic (not ‘just’ but ‘safely’). When I stood on the gas, the car went… and then stopped, because the traction control had sensed wheel-spin, cut power, and applied the brakes: it gave me traction, but killed my momentum, and left me in a lane with traffic bearing down on me. I very regularly get in the car, fasten my seat belt, and turn off the traction control. I’ll leave it on on bad weather days, but mostly, I prefer it off, so that the car reacts the way I expect and want it to.

Stability control is also not yet standard in Canada. As far as cars are concerned, if you actually know how to drive, and do it properly, it’s really not necessary: Again, it’s something I find intrusive, as a driver. However, in a taller vehicle, SUV, or CUV, it can be very, very useful: as opposed to traction control which really just cuts power to stop the wheels spinning in place, stability control stops the wheels sliding (side-to-side) and can actually help prevent roll-over situations if you over-react at speed. While being a good driver and knowing the limits of your vehicle negates most of the need for systems like this, there is a real case for having them in larger, taller vehicles. Enough so that they will be mandatory systems in the USA as of the 2010 model year.

Neither, for that matter, are side-curtain airbags, or active head-restraints. Both are in my car, and are worth having. As with any feature, they cost money, weight, and fuel economy (although that’s factored into the vehicle).

That’s really your starting point if you’re shopping for a vehicle. Seriously. You’re about to spend $20,000 or more, so, why wouldn’t you do some research, and just some good old fashioned thinking, and figure out what it is you actually need in a vehicle, what you want, and even more importantly, what’s available that fulfills that, and still stays in your budget?

Ok, so other than mentioning things as examples, I've avoided the list of cars. We're not at that point yet (although, based on what idioglossia is telling me, I'm making a medium-list of ten to twelve vehicles that she'll want to look at. That's as far as I'm going right now, because there's other things to accomplish first!

( footnotes )

Tags: buying cars, cars

I never do things the easy way, when it comes to cars.

The other day, I was talking about my new winter tires, and how good they were. I also started to talk about what appears to be a manufacturer's defect in one tire. As noted, both 1010tires.com and Pirelli Canada have been excellent in their customer response so far. Pirelli went as far as to find the closest dealer to my home, for my convenience. As long as everything checks out when the tech looks at the tire, there'll be no problem at all with the exchange, etc.

So, last night, I went in to that closest-to-me location, Commercial Tire, at 1720 Bank Street, Ottawa.

And the guy behind the counter? Total dick.

I don't know if it's their policy, but he was just having nothing to do with it. His suggestion? "Not our problem, send it back to where you bought it."

At which point I asked him if they were a Pirelli dealer, or not. He said, yes "sort of". What's sort of? Well, we sell the tires. So, you're a dealer, which means you're Pirelli's representative for their tires, which means you deal with warranty no matter where the tires were purchased.

He wasn't thrilled.

In fact, he came up with a dozen excuses as to why it couldn't be done, or why it would be difficult.

They were full of appointments until the "middle of December" (Bullshit. I actually saw the appointment book, open, on the desk. He had open spots today, just not on the spot.)

It'd be difficult to verify if there was a problem or not (Really? So, your techs don't know how to do their job, and you're NOT a tire specialty store? Duly noted).

The only way he'd be able to check the car out would be if I left it here in the morning and "they'd check it between customers".

Ok, now, you know what? I'm not an idiot. I know damn well, with the attitude you've already given me, that means "Leave your car here, and we'll tell you we looked at it and there's nothing wrong". The guy was aggressively lazy, IMO, and just didn't want to deal with a 'non-pay' customer. Again, I don't know if it's him, or managment policy that they do that. It could go either way, especially in what I know (and was the only truthful thing he said) is their busy season.

So, I told him I'd drop the car off, and they could take a look.

I went home, and looked up another dealer. One of them was the Frisby Tire I'd already been too, and wasn't thrilled with. Yet another was Frisby Tire on Industrial road.

Drove up there in near-rush-hour traffic, expecting the worst. Walked up to the counter, and said "I really hope you guys can help me..." Outlined the situation, including the run-around I'd gotten from Commercial Tire. The two guys on the counter looked at each other pointedly (So, I guess that may be a 'known issue' for Commercial Tire).

Not only do they take the issue seriously, but based on what I told 'em, they're already discussing what the problem could be (seperated belt), booked me an appointment for Wednesday the 25th, and called their warehouse to make sure they had a pair of the right size tires in stock as warranty replacements, as necessary.

And that, kids, is how to do business.

Because Frisby Tire on Industrial will now get a shot at:

My summer tires/rims, hi-performance, probably in the range of $2000.

idioglossia's winter tires on stock rims, when she gets her car in a year or two. (approx $1000)

six months after that, her dedicated summer tires and rims (probably around $2000 again).

Commercial Tire however, just blew off five grand in possible future sales, in three minutes. That simple. They may be a more convenient location, but what's not convenient is having to deal with surly staff, who go out of their way not to do their job, because it's not an immediate money-maker.

Now, I wait for next Wednesday, and see what's said.

Tags: bad service, car, commercial tire, frisby tire, good service, service, tires, winter tires

Something I've found over the last few months, discovered, is Canadian hiphop and rap.

Here's the thing: most rap these days, I don't like. It's nearly all top-40, bragadoccio, bling-bling, I-gots-guns-and-money-and-bitches gangsta crap. Apparently, that sells. But honestly, if you've heard one guy talk about his Bentley or Lambo (which, lets face it, for 95% of 'em, they don't own: they rent for the video) and how much gold he's got (again, rented), you've pretty much heard them all.

That's not even, in my opinion, Gangsta. It's watered down, record-company, top-40 shit.

You want Gangsta?

Go look old-school: NWA, Ice T, Dr. Dre, Public Enemy and all those guys.

If you want street rap, you look at older stuff by guys like Jay Z: I actually just bought Blueprint III, oddly enough, on Jay-I-hate-rap's say so, and it's a great, introspective album. Ok, it's got the odd hit towards Top-40 play, but I'm not going to fault that: It's not Top-40 I've got the issue with, it's the generic crap that usually fills the Top 40 that bothers me. Jay Z doesn't fit that bill.

So, I've not listened to a ton of new stuff; I have the same problem with rock&roll these days; most of what I get the chance to here is generic, top-40, lets-copy-the-success-of-nickelback shit. No risk taking, no real innovation.

I'm not saying that innovation isn't out there, but it's not where most people can hear it.

So, one of my regular listens is the download of the CBC Radio 3 podcast, be it the R3-30, Sunshine show, or, more often, the Track of the Day.

My recent hits?

K’naan – Troubadour

Shad – When This is Over

Shad – The Old Prince

Classified – Self Explanatory

Champion – Resistance

Rather than a review, it’s a matter of why I like these guys.

First off, I heard both Shad and Champion (aka, DJ Champion and the G-Strings) paired together on a “live” broadcast on Radio 3. On that, was an approximately ten minute version of Champion’s “Backing Off”.





Turns out, I already knew this album, having heard Alive Again, and really dug it, I just didn’t know who sang it. Putting the two together, Shad and Champion, made for a brilliant twenty minutes or so of show. Which led me to pick up Resistance. I’d missed the name of the accompanying artist, though (that would be Shad). I was surprised a week later to hear one of his tunes on the Track of the Day. And, I didn’t recognize the artist, but the voice and inflection. So, of course, I picked up an album. And I couldn’t pick between two, so, after listening to samples from both, I bought both.

Damn the ‘instant on’ of iTunes and a data plan.

Shad’s tracks are for lack of a better description, K-os-ian. There’s a definite philosophy behind them, one of the things I really respect. As I said, there’s too much of the “I gots mo’ money than yo’” shit out there these days, and I’ve always appreciated the platform that rap can be, if the person doing it is actually thinking about what they’re saying. Shad’s one of these guys. One of the ones that really gets me to grinnin’, is “The Old Prince Still Lives At Home” which is a story about how a cheapskate saves money: skipping the dentist because he can brush his own teeth, so the dentist can’t hustle him on that. The last quarter of the song, totally acapella, because he was too cheap to pay for the beat for the whole song. Really, really funny. Really, really smart, and really good satire at the same time. Does a great job of saying the opposite, too: there’s a time to pay for somethings. But Shad’s a guy who’s having a lot of fun with the music: guys like him should survive, but I’m never sure if they will. He’s excellent at what he does: whether he’ll get the notice he should is anyone’s guess. That’s the issue with all of these guys: it’s questionable as to whether or not they’ll get the recognition it takes to stay in the industry.

Oh, and the video for "The Old Prince Still LIves At Home" is brilliant.





“Out of Love Pt. 1” and “Pt. 2” have a real ‘old school’ feel to me. Either well chosen samples or even better made pieces specifically, but beyond that, Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 are on different albums: there’s a unification across albums in the stories that’re being told. The feel to the albums reminds me of guys like Skee-lo (who almost no one ever listened to, outside of “I wish”. Both piece of “Out of Love” are laments with grains of hope “I want Claire Huxtable”, the emo cheese factor gets discussed, but really, he’s a guy who’s found a way to rhyme a love song in rap. It’s great, great stuff.

In fact, the progression of ideas puts me in mind not just of some of the early 90’s feel of rap, but also, The Streets: albums have coherent themes, and progressions in life. I dig this a lot, it’s a lot more real than a club hook and a paycheck, which is what I see in a lot of rap. They’re story-tellers, rather than braggadocio.

Which brings me to K’naan. Even more introspective than Shad, he’s got a sense of history and reality about him and his music that is stunning. He appears to be humble: not something you associate with rap, at all. He’s more dramatically lyrical, as well: sing-sing rather than rap, who does his own chorus work, singing the chorus, rather than rapping it. It’s actually quite a brilliant blending: the horns are punctuation, not a jazz or pop sample, it really impresses me.

For me, stand outs are “Fatima” which is, again, a love song, and definitely a lament, of adolescent, childhood love. Oddly, it makes me think of Paul Simon more than any other rapper. Of the tree, I think K’naan is my favorite, because he’s just so varied, and the stories are so well layered. It’s actually really difficult for me to say more than that, it really needs just to be listened to:





I should be able to say more, especially as that is my favorite. But I just… I gotta let the music speak for itself. Just go buy Troubadour. If you dig the style at all, you’ll love this album. Go listen to Take a Minute if you need a helping hand on the decision.

I have, oddly, a hard time picking a box to put Classified in. The closest I can come to from the pseudo-mainstream is Asher Roth. No, not Eminem, Asher Roth. Eminem is a class unto himself: he’s still an angry, angry dude. Asher and Classified are much, much mellower (as far as I’ve heard so far: I’m going to pick up a second Classified album shortly).

Self-Explanatory, the album I’ve already bought, has a couple of brilliant things on it. Not the least of which is the structure of the album. Most of you already have some idea of my penchant for story-albums: albums with a cogent, linear progression to them: they tell a story. What Self-Explanatory does is take this one further: there’s a half-dozen or so “CYOA” tracks.

Choose Your Own Adventure

Yeah, we all remember the books right? Every couple of tracks, there’s a CYOA track. “If you want to listen to the band play, go to track 16. If you want to go outside the club to talk, go to track 22”

And you know what, I’ve listened to the album making different track choices as prompted, and it’s actually pretty cool. He’s put some real thought into how the album progresses as you make those different choices. I’m really impressed.

Again, it’s tough to make that “compares to..” but the storyline reminds me somewhat of the first two albums by The Streets (you notice how I keep comparing to the same bands? There’s a reason for that: they’re really, really good bands. Even though it really doesn’t get across what I want about the style, it is a compliment). It’s a ‘day in the life’ story, and it’s really well done. As with K’naan and Shad, he’s not just telling a story, you get the impression he’s telling his story.

Oh, and the Phil Collins sample on “Anybody Listening”? CLASSIC.

Aw, shit. Just watch it.





One of the things I’ve just noticed is, when Classified slows the beat down, the lyrics get quick. (CYOA Pt 1 is a good example of this). It’s a good, fun twist. There’s a couple of tracks that really could be anthems, as well. Like K’naan, Classified makes great use of melody and singing in the chorus; unlike K’naan, that sing-song quality doesn’t spill out into the rhymes. It really is just the chorus.





I hate making these “sounds like” comparisons. They don’t do the artist justice, and they infer that what they’re doing has been done before: I don’t think any of these guys are doing anything that has specifically been done before. Anything that’s ‘similar’ is still very much their own style and personality showing through. On top of that, the comparisons to other artists are only to give you a broad sense of style, “sounds like” should probably be more properly “reminds me of why I really like…”

Oh, and his Canadian shoutout? Loonie? Just great.

That’s what I want to impress. These guys are worth listening to, because they tell a story, they make you think, the sound is fantastic and original: they do something in a way that just isn’t done in the world of Top 40. I’d love to see any one of them make it big. Canada’s making some absolutely brilliant hiphop and rap, and it’s all worth a listen.

Tags: canadian music, champion, classified, dj champion, k'naan, k-os, music, shad

It's the other.

I finally settled on ordering a set of Pirelli SottoZero 240 winter tires from 1010tires. I put the order in on October 13th, and the tires showed up on my doorstep on October 23rd. It took two weeks to find somewhere with a reasonable installation price and time frame[1]. So, I got the tires installed on the 9th of November. I tooled around town for four or five days, and they're GREAT. There's always a couple of hundred kilometers break-in time on brand new tires (wear off any preservatives on the tire, break the surface of the rubber, etc) and then they start to do their job at full strength. Got on the highway to go out ot idioglossia's dad's place...

And I got up to 90km/h or so, and the steering wheel was vibrating in my hands. Get up to 105-115km/h, and idioglossia looks over at me and says:

"Is the wheel supposed to vibrate like that?"

Off the highway, back to AbsoluteDeals4Wheels, and have them re-balance the tires. Turns out, a weight had actually fallen off, so there was definitely some of their fault there. They rebalance, and send me on my way. We get back on the road out to idioglossia's dad's place again, and... same thing.

The tire place is closed (or close enough to closing as to make no nevermind) so, I take the car in on Monday afternoon (the 16th) taking an afternoon off work.

The guy there, Jeff, apologizes, and they go ahead and re-balance again.

He comes out to the waiting area and asks me to come into the shop. He runs the tire without balancing, and it's showing 50g on the inside, 75g on the outside. He puts the appropriate weights on, and runs the tire again. He tells me to watch the tire, across the face of it (the bit that hits the road). The machine is showing balanced (0g inside, 0g outside). The face of the tire is... undulating.

It appears to be a manufacturers defect. He balanced the tires again anyway, to make sure it was as good as it can be, I left, and took the car out on the highway last night. Exactly the same problem again.

So, this morning (the 17th) I emailed both 1010tires.com and Pirelli Canada, aprising them of the situation, and basically asking them how I should proceed.

I got an email response from 1010tires.com saying that while they could deal with the issue for me, it would mean shipping the tire to them (in BC, at my expense) and then paying for shipping back to me with the replacement. They recommend approaching a local Pirelli dealer (there are four in Ottawa), and there shouldn't be any problem, and there should be no cost to me, either.

I'm now waiting for the response from Pirelli. I'm hoping that shows up today, before I leave work, so that I can print it, and take it with me to the local dealer, as having something from corporate always makes things smoother with the local distributor.

With luck, this'll be a relatively painless process. My only real annoyance is the time it's taken out of my life to deal with it (so far, about two hours for the original installation, two hours for the re-balance, two hours again for the re-re-balance and finding the issue: I'm sure the warranty process in-store will be a further two hours.) Doing this crap always takes it out of me.

( footnotes )

Remembering why we fight:

Seriously, go here, listen to this short story. Pirates and LIES!!

Castor on Troubled Waters

It's completely, ridiculously, awesome.

Tags: audio, fiction, podcastle

Our Coffee, who art in mugs;
hallowed by your beans;
thy caffeine come;
thy grounds be filtered, in drip or press;
Give us this day our daily buzz
Forgive none their trespasses, as vanilla trespasses against you;
Lead us not into Latte;
Deliver us from dishwater
For thine is the grounds, and the caffiene, and the glory,
large or extra-large. Amen.

Tags: blasphemy, coffee