Jack Layton was a rare breed in the world of politics.  his love of canada and the people in it has been very well documented.  you can find numerous stories of his passionate support of environmental issues, cyclists, the LGBT community and so on.  you know those bike posts all over the city of Toronto?  those were Jack’s idea.  several people have told stories of times when Jack would take them out for a beer to discuss what’s important to them.  no camera crews, no tipping off the media for a photo opp, just a man who genuinely cared what the people had to say.  pretty rare these days to find from anyone in public office.

also pretty rare is the fact that most people i know referred to him simply as Jack.  he was that kind of man and that kind of politician.  whether you agreed with his viewpoint or not, there’s no denying that he cared about everyone he came into contact with, something i think we could all learn a lot from.  no matter what position he held over the years, he always seemed approachable and honest, almost like a friend.  i honestly can’t think of any other politician in this country i refer to by their first name…i can think of several names i call them occasionally, but not their first names.

i went to city hall this week the day Jack died and seeing the hundreds of people there writing their messages, letters and words of thanks to him in chalk all over Nathan Phillips Square was heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time.  seeing what an impact he had on canadian politics and on so many people just made the loss of him that much harder to swallow.  part of me fears we will never see another in public office with such conviction, determination and passion…but another part is hopeful that what Jack started will not be undone.  I hope not only those in his party will take up the torch and continue his work, but also that we all, as Canadians, remember what he started here and especially remember his final words to us all…

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair.
So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.

thanks for all you did for us Jack.  you will not be forgotten. Rest in peace.

Jack Layton
1950-2011

i’ve loved these guys since 2002-ish when a whopping 2 copies of their self-titled debut were shipped to the record store i worked at during that time.  i loved the cover and gave it a listen on my break.  by the end of my 15 minute break, i had purchased the cd and it still remains one of my favourite music purchases to date.  i also got in some crap by my boss because i put their cd on the stereo in the store, when we were only allowed to play a certain group of cds as outlined by head office.  definitely nothing like Empire Records! (damn the man, save the Empire!!) i ended up selling the 2nd copy of ok go by the time the cd had finished, so i was off the sh!t-list.

for nearly a decade these guys have not only created some great music but their videos have been perfect examples of how to still be creative in an era where the closest kids get to seeing a music video is a commercial for the Hills.  not one of their videos are ‘phoned in’, not one looks half-assed.  in fact, each one looks like it’s taken weeks, if not months of thought, planning, rehearsing, reworking, editing, blah blah blah blah.

i spent an hour this evening going through all their videos and i actually said ‘WHOA’ out loud at least 3 or 4 times.  and i don’t say ‘WHOA’ out loud when i’m alone ever.

if you wanna see their videos…and you DO…check out http://www.okgo.net

i leave you now with proof of the brilliance of ok go.  if you don’t like this video, you are not alive.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2fpgpanZAw

i’ve been a long-time fan of the fire-haired host since the early days of Late Night (yep, i’m that old) and was thrilled to see that not only is Conan finally getting the show he rightfully deserves, but the Tonight Show would finally get back a good host who is smart, funny and respected by his peers.  not mention the fact that it spelled the end of Jay (i’m not funny) Leno…or so we all thought hoped.

instead we have the stupidest of all network moves that sees jay return to the tonight show and conan out on his ass.  i suppose though thanks to all this we’ve seen the best Conan yet in recent shows, ripping on the network ‘morons’, spending all their money and even a return of the masturbating bear!!!

i won’t go into all the details of the feud because enough has been written about it by much smarter folks than myself.  all i want to say is that Conan is The King of latenight in my mind and he will be sorely missed for however long it takes another network to snatch him up…which i predict, and hope, won’t take long.

In closing, i think you should all join the “I’m With Coco” movement online.  and if you’re a Leno fan, please leave.  thanks.

garth is my friend, for real, i know him!  seriously, we high five all the time….and uh….hang out, like all the time.

he’s a visual artist, but not like any you’ve ever seen…and i know what you’ve seen!

in all seriousness, his innovation, talent and passion for all he does blows me away constantly and you need to check out his work.  you won’t be disappointed, i pinky swear.

http://www.thegarthshow.com

Scrubs, much like another favourite of mine Ed, has always been one of the best shows on tv. it always seems to find a perfect balance between comedy and drama week after week, even through all the time slots moves, cancellation threats and overall lackluster ratings. scrubs should be retired as one of the blockbuster sitcoms of all time but sadly critical acclaim and a cult following don’t equal $$ to tv networks. abc has definitely done a much better job of promoting the show than nbc ever did, but still it never quite hit ‘Friends’ or ‘Cosby Show’ hype as i firmly believe it should have.

anyways, i could literally go on for pages and pages about scrubs…but i won’t. i’ll just bid a very sad farewell to jd, turk, elliot, carla, dr cox, dr kelso, janitor, rowdy, the todd, jordan, jack, laverne, tasty coma wife, gift shop girl, ted, ted’s band(the worthless peons), gooch, doug, keith, lonnie, hooch(is crazy), lloyd the delivery guy, denise, dr beardfacé, dr mickhead, dr wen, snoop dogg attending (formerly snoop dogg resident and snoop dogg intern), colonel doctor, jimmy the overly touchy orderly, leonarad the security guard with the hook for the hand, randall the janitor, troy the cafeteria worker, laverneagain, jo, all of jd’s hot guest-starring girlfriends, dan, dr. zeltzer, cabbage, sasha the scooter, enid and all the others that have made me laugh and tonight will possibly make me shed a tear or two.

in the words of JD : “Goodbye trumpet player I don’t know. Now I know why your music is so sad.”

Update : the finale was so good i had to watch it twice…and i’m man enough to admit i teared up both times! so sad yet so great.

what really gets my goat is trying to make great looking pdf’s while keeping the file size small.  it’s been a constant headache of mine for quite some time now…until today!

today i stumbled across an article by the good folks at hoboes.com showing how to compress the file size of pdfs while leaving the visual quality and clarity pretty much intact.  This solution only works on a Mac so for you PC users out there, too bad for you.  there’s just one more reason(in the long list of many) to make the switch.  now!

for those of you looking to rid yourselves of the pain of large pdf’s…enjoy the following link;
http://www.hoboes.com/Mimsy/?ART=360

you’re welcome.

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At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated,

‘If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.’

In response to Bill’s comments, General Motors issued a press release stating:

If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

• For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash……..  Twice a day.
• Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.
• Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.
• Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.
• Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive – but would run on only five percent of the roads.
• The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single ‘This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation’ warning light.
• The airbag system would ask ‘Are you sure?’ before deploying.
• Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.
• Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
• You’d have to press the ‘Start’ button to turn the engine off.

well played GM…well played indeed.