Month: June 2011

Blissfully Ignorant

Posted on by sinisterjack

What would you do if you were lost in the woods? Ok maybe that’s a little too easy. Picture this, You’re alone in the woods. It’s midnight on a moonless night. Dense and old, the forest surrounds you. The canopy of leaves seals you away from starlight making it impossible to see your hand in front of your face. Now what do you do? Do you just assume you know the right way out and just blindly start walking? What if you walk off a cliff or right into a trove of poison ivy?

I’ve worked customer service for over 10 years now and in my experience people act like this in everyday life. It’s true when they say “When you assume you make an ass out of U and ME” but I’d take it a step further. When you assume you just make an ass out of you – and that just makes me shake my head. I can go on and on with stories about people who have come up to me and started their complaint with “I assumed…..” Now for those of you that just use the word all willy-nilly here is what the dictionary has to say about the word assume:

Assume: to take for granted or without proof; suppose; postulate

It’s one of those words that everyone uses, but you have to be careful when you use it.

“I assume everyone wanted pizza for dinner” sure that works. I mean who doesn’t want pizza for dinner. Or how about “I assumed that you didn’t want to clean up my mess.” Of course, that’s just polite and courteous! But when you say “I assumed that I would get a free refill on my french fries.” Or how about “I assumed that I could just park my car in the middle of the street” that’s not stupid at all is it?

So people, be smart when you use the word assume. Sometimes it makes you  look like an idiot and don’t use it as a shield to hide how ignorant you are. If you don’t know what you’re talking about then just ask. The only stupid question is the one not asked so don’t be stupid, or else I’ll just assume that you don’t need your car – I don’t have one so I’ll give it a good home!

I predict a riot – Van city’s shame

Posted on by sinisterjack

Boston's Reward

I’ve always imagined what it would be like when Toronto wins the Stanley Cup. I picture people clogging the streets, like the human cholesterol in the heart of Toronto. Tears of joy and disbelief streaming down the faces of young and old alike. Spontaneous chant’s of GO LEAFS GO as well as round after round of WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS hanging in the air. I know that even Torontonians who are fans of other teams would be excited just to see the party we would throw!
But then there is the flip side. What if Toronto lost the cup. The rioting in Vancouver reminded me that hockey is VERY serious business in Canada. I would hate to think that my city would react the same way in the same situation. But who am I kidding! Just like in Van city, the riots and looting would be started by some loser who had too much to drink. And then it would just skyrocket from there causing the city to implode on itself.
I’ve always joked with Trit (her Blackhawks tasted glory last year) that I would loot her something nice if it came to that. But after seeing what happened in T.O. with the G20, I don’t want to be close to downtown Toronto if we lost a game as badly as Vancouver did.
Vancouver fans have a right to be sad, but the anger that sparked the violence and crime in the street is not indicative of how Canadians act. In the dying seconds of the game, the fans in the Rogers Arena were on their feet, waving their towels and cheering for the warriors that battled through 7 grueling games. They were cheering for the game and the glory that is Lord Stanley’s cup. That’s what I expect from my fellow countrymen, not the shit-show that followed. Go drink your sorrows away, pass out in the street or barfing in your neighbours car. But don’t destroy half the city just to appease your ire.
Toronto, please remember this when its our turn. Montreal and Vancouver have shown us the bad way to win and lose, let’s make sure we don’t make that same mistake!
However there was one reaction that I wholeheartedly agreed with. When they booed the hell out of Bettman I was quite happy, but that’s just because he’s a disgusting little ogre that helped ruin hockey.

Emerald Knights: The DVD Review

Posted on by sinisterjack

I didn’t get into the Green Lantern until later in life. I was into titles like Superman or the Teen Titans. I even had a great collection of random’s like ROM: Spaceknight, Visionaries, Transformers and even some great Masters of the Universe comics.

Simian Superheroes

It wasn’t until I got into a really funky JLApe story line (I have a fascination with apes in comics and sci-fi stories) that I took an interest in the Green Lantern character. After seeing Kyle Rayner where Hal should have been I began to wonder what happened to the Lantern that I had heard about and what this cartoonist was doing in his place. That’s when I realized how deep the Green Lantern universe went, and how many other characters the Corps had to offer. My favourites have to be Kilowog and Guy Gardiner. They’re gruff and gritty and you just don’t want to get on their bad side. .

Now that Hollywood is going to spit out their version of Hal Jordan and introduce the story of the corps to the masses, everyone is going to want to know a little more about what being a Green Lantern is really all about. This is where the new DVD release, Green Lantern: Emerald Knights comes in. It provides a taste of what it is like to be a Lantern in the form of a history lesson told to a new recruit, Arisia.

The DVD revolves around a cataclysmic event that can destroy the home world of the Green Lantern Corps. As Hal and the rest of the Corps are preparing for a large battle Arisia is told stories of the legends behind the corps. Stories of the origin of the rings of power and of the first Lantern, and how Kilowog became the resident Boot Camp Drill Sargent. The background for each story told is beautifully diverse, with great scenery and brilliant colours. The fight scenes, a mix of constructs and martial arts, are beautifully drawn and the stories provide just the right amount of depth and character. This release was more than just another animated feature, it provided great insight into the myth behind the Corps and what it takes to be a Lantern. Overall the film was a brilliant warm up to (what I’m hoping) is a great big screen Green Lantern story and I highly recommend getting and watching this movie before the upcoming Green Lantern release.

With all the changes happening in the DC universe who knows what will happen to the current DC heroes that we’ve come to know and love. Regardless, if DC sticks to releasing animated movies like this one, I’ll be very happy. Now I want to see something revolving around the Flash characters – It’s time for Barry and Wally to get the spotlight.

Paint-mageddon @ Eastie Boyz Paintball

Posted on by sinisterjack

There’s nothing like the smell of fresh napalm in the morning.

Or in my case, the smell of fresh paintball. A few months ago, I purchased a voucher from Living Social for a paintball session at Eastie Boyz Paintball. I’ve been paintballing before and at most places, you are placed on teams and given a mission like capture the flag. Then you strategize how you’re going to win. It’s more like playing Call of Duty or Battlefield.

But this time it was vastly different. From start to finish the Eastie Boyz experience was fun and accommodating, the host’s were hilarious and made us feel welcome and like we belonged. They provided everything including the coveralls. The price wasn’t that bad either. For $30 you get 100 paintball, rental of the gun, coveralls, mask and three hours of play time. We only played for a little more than an hour and a half but with only four of us playing two on two teams, we were running around like crazy.

The field brings out the true competitor in you. Imagine half a soccer field, scattered with inflated obstacles for cover and two teams in a free for all death match. You play a running and diving, free-for-all battle that simulates a soccer game with guns instead of a sit-in-a-tree-and-wait kind of game, and it really made this adventure a new experience for me.

Even though it was only four of us playing, we had a great time and were sweating by the time we were done. It was a great experience so thank you Eastie Boyz!. Thanks for a great experience, I’ll be recommending you to everyone I know and next time I’m bringing my whole family for some good ‘ol family bonding.

X-Men of the Caribbean

Posted on by sinisterjack

Check it.

The plan was to get wings and watch X-Men: First Class. That was also everyone’s plan too, because by the time we got there it was sold out.

This meant that we ended up watching Pirates of the Caribbean 4. Not only that but it was in 3D. I was disappointed and thus here is my very jaded review of Pirates of the Caribbean 4.

The acting was vacant, and really developed no real character. Aside from Depp as Sparrow (which has already been well established) I could see through Penelope’s character and it was a little awkward. She was acting like a pirate but all I could see was Penelope Cruz. And I don’t like Penelope Cruz. Ian McShane did play a good Blackbeard, but I like McShane as an actor and I always thought he’d be a good pirate. Instead of Cruz I would have cast Salma Hayak as the female lead. She’s prettier and would have provided a better heat/friction with Depp. Anyone heard of Sam Clafin? He played a cleric in the movie and his role was totally useless. How did he get there, he was too conveniently placed into the film to be the “solution” at the time of need.

The story was very transparent as well. The story had Jack escaping from the gallows, and with Barbossa, trying to find the fountain of youth before the Spaniards do. Ultimately its discovered that the Spaniards just wanted to destroy the heresy that is the fountain of youth. If they were going to destroy it, then why did they spend all the time in getting the particular pieces that would make it work. Why didn’t they just blow everything up and be done with it. Why, oh why did I spend two hours and a half watching this nonsense.

In conclusion, at least this movie didn’t have Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly and they should NOT make another Pirates of the Caribbean – retire the series altogether and write an original pirate adventure movie. That would be awesome!

I’ve said my peace, now to watch X-Men: First Class.

He shoots, he scores?

Posted on by sinisterjack

Growing up in Canada, I was always involved in both winter and summer sports. But unlike many of my white Canadian friends, I didn’t play hockey or football. I played soccer or Futbol if you’re really picky, I don’t care what you call it but it was my favourite way to spend the summer.

My issue with soccer in Canada is that Canadians were rarely part of the equation. I would play with Hispanics, Europeans, Asian’s – kids from everywhere in the world, but rarely any white Canadian kids. You may think that I was raised in diverse or ethnic community, but most of my soccer was played in York Region.  This was back when York Region was still the boonies and I was the token brown guy everywhere I went. It was always a pleasure to meet an Italian or English kid because I knew that I’d see them on the pitch in the summer.

I’m happy to say that this has changed and last night truly proved it. Last night Ecuador played Canada in an international friendly preparing both teams for the tournaments that will lead up to the big show down in Brazil. Now before I go any further, I’ll take you back to when I was 8. My dad and I got tickets from his Greek friends, to go see Canada vs. Greece in an international friendly at the old Varsity Stadium in Toronto. I was so excited to see an international FIFA level game with my birth country Canada. It was the highlight of my year and I wanted to see how well Canada could to on an international level. I was disappointed as we lost that game. In retrospect, Canada was out-played, out-matched and even out-fanned. The stadium wasn’t full by any means, but there was a distinct lack of red and white fans as the Greek consortium made it out in a sea of light blue and white.

I was still happy with seeing a FIFA level game and that summer I was juiced to play soccer. I wanted to eventually bring my Ecuadorian heritage to the Canadian National Team and propel my country to the world stage and play in the World Cup. My dream was dashed by injury but there were others out there like me and they have taken on the mantle of raising Canadian soccer to a new level which brings us to last night. Unlike that international friendly I saw years ago, the Canadian presence was strong as the sea of Red and White jersey’s erupted when Canada scored the opening goal. I know that the Canadian fans were worried about being outnumbered by the Ecuadorians, and you were. But you guys still made your presence known and I am proud of that.

Of course I was sitting in the Ecuadorian section, clad in el Tricolor waving my Ecuadorian flag proudly when Benitez scored the first goal. The stadium went nuts and as Canadian as I am, it’s always been a dream of mine to watch Ecuador playing in an international game with my Dad.

So Canada, thanks for showing up and thanks for playing a great game. Ecuador thank you for giving me a chance to see you play, I can finally check that off my list. And finally Canadian fans – thanks for coming out. My dad has always said that Canadian soccer would never be as popular as hockey is in Canada, but last night you proved that Canadian soccer has made some major leaps forward and deserves some recognition.

And in other news, a hockey tournament on the west coast happened at the same time with Canada facing the US. – Canada won (I think) in the first of a best of 7 series.