A discussion of how the song “Head & Shoulders, Knees & Toes” is sung with a different melody in Canada then in other parts of the world leads to this awesome Wikipedia article about how a variety of animal sounds and other common noises are conveyed in different languages.
(via MetaFilter)
Shea almost canceled our wedding when this song was playing non-stop on Mexican MTV in the lead-up to our big day. I’m not sure who was able to finally convince her that Robbie Williams might just be unobtainable and she’d have to settle for me but I’m glad they did! 😉
(Oh, who am I kidding? I’ve had a man-crush on Robbie Williams since I was in England in 1995 and he was like the UK’s Justin Timberlake – breakout star of a popular boy band – but with more booze & cocaine scandals but with more booze & cocaine scandals!)
Earlier today, Shea, Pace and I went to the grand opening of the joint campaign office for three of the NDP candidates in next month’s provincial election – Jaime Garcia, Warren McCall and Trent Wotherspoon. Â Jaime’s the new guy on the block, replacing retiring MLA Kim Trew, so he arguably has the toughest battle ahead of him in an election which many are predicting will be a rout by the governing Saskatchewan Party.
Things may be looking grim but as I posted before, there are also reasons it might not be as bad as the polls are saying.
One of the things I said was that the NDP is (and always has been) the party with the best ideas. This is demonstrated by the NDP’s recent policy document, “A Rooted and Growing Vision’ and is also exemplified by ideas like the one captured in this new campaign commercial.
Simply put, creating a sovereign wealth fund like the one in Norway (I can’t find it now but recently read somewhere that this Norwegian fund has a hugely disproportionate influence on helping the European economy survive the global recession of 2008) is an awesome idea. I *love* that the NDP are proposing a similar fund for Saskatchewan and can’t wait to see what other ideas they will put forward in the weeks to come.
Christmas is fast approaching and ThisIsWhyI’mBroke.com appears to be a site that will meet many of my gift-giving needs!
I’m not one of those “I don’t own a TV and will now tell you about why” people. But after being a pretty major TV addict for most of my life (hell, I had a job selling cable TV throughout the summers I was in undergrad that I kicked ass at!), the Internet has all but replaced TV as the place where I waste my time.
I watch “The Daily Show”, some CFL and NHL games and maybe the odd other show but that’s really about it for my TV watching. I can’t think of the last hour-long episodic drama I’ve watched on a regular basis. But on the recommendation of a co-worker, I started watching “Breaking Bad” and I’ve got to say, I’m with the many critics who say this might be the best show on TV right now.
There are numerous reasons why this is the case – the acting, the writing, the cinematography, the many themes – but there’s also the unique story arc that has perhaps never been done on TV before – taking a character who is extremely sympathetic and incrementally turning him evil with no sign of redemption anywhere to be found.
[The show] is about a lot of things. The meth epidemic. The American Southwest. The trials of middle-class manhood. The failings of our health-care system. The various ways to shatter the windshield of a Pontiac Aztek. But at its core, it’s really about something more human, and more universal, than all that: the mysterious, all-too-common transformation…how people become dangerous.
Shea and I came to the show late but via the magic of Bit Torrent, were able to download the first three and a half seasons and watch them in fairly short order (one of the great ironies of the show is that it is as addictive as the crystal meth that underpins all of the show’s action and development.)
Pace on growing up:Â “First, you’re a baby then you’re a kid then you’re a human then you find a wife.”
Pace impresses with his vocabulary (but not his abilities as a human dictionary): “Ferocious means nice.”
Jason: “No, it means dangerous…like a ferocious tiger.”
Pace: “Oh, like this?” <jumps on my head>
When Shea and Pace picked me up today, I was greeted with “Hi dad, you stupie!” (He’s not allowed to say “stupid” so this is the stand-in word he’s made up.)
“Oh, hi. I brought you a cookie but since you said that, I think I’ll give it to your mom instead.”
“Uhm, I love you dad!”
I was out at a meeting tonight and after it finished, I called to let Shea know I’d be home soon. Pace was (as usual) resisting bedtime but when the phone rang, he apparently ran directly to his bedroom, calling over his shoulder “Don’t tell dad!” Shea picked up the phone, laughing and after telling me what had happened, said it was extra funny because she’d threatened to “call your dad” earlier in the night when he first got out of bed.
“Is this healthy?” – This has been a bit of a recurring mantra with everything we feed him lately. Our lectures about cookies, candy and McDonald’s have sunk in, I guess. For example, last night, Pace and I were playing Elmo (him) and Cookie Monster (me).
Pace: “Here Cookie Monster. Have some celery.”
Me: “I want cookie!”
Pace: “No, eat celery. It’s healthy.”
Me: (pretending to put the celery in a bowl). “I’ll just add some eggs and sugar and flour. Ummm, ummm, ummm. Celery cookies!”
Pace (mad): “Dad, there’s no such thing as celery cookies!”
And I know that the current advice is that you should correct your child’s mis-pronounced words but Pace has a few that I just love and can’t force myself to correct. I hope I’m not doing him irreparable harm! (I mean the kid breaks out the word “ferocious” without any problem so I’m not too worried!)
Ham-gerber = hamburger
Grill = girl
Plillow – pillow
Pewter – computer
Oh, and I think I made reference to this before (either on this blog or maybe on Facebook) but here’s photographic proof of Pace’s attempt to spike his hair…with toothpaste!
Sometimes it feels like Wikipedia is the only Internet giant that’s actually not focused on its own mega-growth at any cost!
The leaves on the trees are turning, we’ve been out “leaf crunching” as Pace calls it and I agree with Shea that “if it wasn’t followed by winter, fall might just be my favourite season”. I don’t know if this Britpop one hit wonder has anything to do with the autumn but it’s called “October Swimmer” so I’m posting it here…
There are many variations of the “What’s Your Favourite Book?” question online (many of which I’ve posted in the past.)
Reddit recently provided another good one.
