Pomegranate: I have no idea how I never saw this until now, but the Pomegranate is a parody phone ad with the tag line, "Having a phone with everything may be a stretch, but a place that has everything definitely exists - Nova Scotia."
There are 3 totally funny things here: 1. Nova Scotia: When Americans make fun of Canadians for saying "aboot", they are making fun of the Maritimers. Nova Scotians are some of the sweetest, seal flipper pie munching, freckled redheads I know. 2. Harmonica and projector: These features may sound ridiculous, but Smule's Ocarina iPhone app totally lets you play your phone and Samsung just launched a phone with a pico projector in Korea. It demoed at CES. 3. A Canadian filmmaker is making a film on surveillance using a camera fitted into his prosthetic eye. It's an "eyeborg" camera and University of Toronto's Steve Man (One of the first life streamers) is onboard. I'm not kidding. After looking at this, the idea of a phone that brews coffee really isn't that far fetched. Now if this is fake, everyone's just going to start accusing us of being liars. It's bad enough being referred to as a "snow back". Check out the eye project below:
We went to Lawrence Lessig's book launch party months ago, but I'm only now cracking the book to read it. For once, I'm really enjoying my morning commute.
In Remix, Lessig calls on his readers to consider the amateur. He writes, "If you want to respect YoYo Mah, try playing a cello." He talks about how important it is to create culture rather than simply consuming it.
This leads me to my preachy point. Intrepid Theatre, host of the Victoria Fringe Festival and original home of One Man Star Wars, is looking for a new board member. (I used to be one) If you've got abilities as a promoter, social media marketer, event planner, designer or just plain networker, get involved. Email them. There's only 1 meeting a month, you meet cool people, and you keep early-stage Canadian comedy and entertainment alive. You can also try your hand at writing your own play through their Petri Dish competition.
Angelina Jolie cannot be the only person making culture, for God's sake, it's not like she can adopt all of us.
Both Canada Day and American Independence Day reinstate an age-old tradition of drunkenness followed by the age-old tradition of a morning shot of aspirin with an orange juice chaser. In my days spent recovering, I've been trying to find a meme that sets Canadians and Americans apart. Handsome B. Boyfriend is spreading a rumor about a drop bear-like fictional animal for Canadians to share, but it isn't catching on. I've decided I'm more proud of the West Coast cities I identify with (both in Canada and the US) than I am of either nation as a whole. Imagine if cities were to take up arms and defend themselves. San Franciscans would be solely defended by CEOs on wake boards and BMW motorcycles. It would be the only city with more war correspondents than soldiers. Vancouverites would employ assassins in Lululemon ninja attire to pour vats of piping hot Starbucks onto unsuspecting rivals. And Victorians would sink the BC Ferries, fill their coolers with pies and cured meats, and kayak like hell up the Georgia Straight in the belief that dying in the ocean would be a vast improvement to surrendering to those smug Vancouverites. It would be over in a few days, at which point we'd realize that a "true patriot" is just someone who tries their best regardless of the situation. Ah CanMeriDa...
As a dual citizen I have the pleasure of returning from an amazingly sunny California weekend to the absolutely craptacular task of filing two tax returns. According to Canada Revenue Services I am considered a "factual resident" because I have the residential tie of a bank account. However, that account only exists to pay off student loans because, despite the fact that Canada is heralded as one of the leaders in global telecommunications and online services, the government cannot accept student loan payments from foreign accounts.
This data fragmentation coupled with my own incompetence in translating Canadian tax diction ensures that my true identity and place of residence will never be known by any one government. I AM JASON BOURNE.
Whoa...I haven't watched hockey for 2 yrs and I'd forgotten about the "hosers". I'd always assumed "hoser" referred to wrapping your mouth around the hose while doing a keg stand. Not so. It refers to pre-zamboni hockey when the losing team hosed off the ice.
