Category Archives: Weblogs

Butch, Sundance & Pamela Anderson

You may remember a couple of months ago, I was approached by a sort of grassroots marketing company and asked if I’d be interested in reviewing the newly released DVD of Pamela Anderson and posting it to my blog.  Of course you remember.  This blog is very important to you.  Anyway, I said I’d be delighted to do that (no qualms here about being a shill for the Hollywood machine).  So they sent me the DVD and I watched it, and posted what I thought was a fairly un-shill like review.  I’m not going to bother to find the post and provide a link to it, because somehow that implies these posts have worth.  And while I suspect a number of readers get disconsolate if I don’t post something fresh for them to read each day, and they would argue that these posts do have worth, at least to them, I prefer to think of these posts as empty vessels.
So, I reviewed it and that was that.  Until today, when the same company emails me and asks if I’d be interested in presenting another review.  Whereas last time I had to trek through the sludge of comedy that focused far too much on Miss Anderson’s gaping beaver (alleged)  (Alleged gaping, not alleged beaver, because I think we’re all pretty sure she’s not got dangling participles down there), this time I may have struck gold.  I’ll be sent a DVD of a new collector’s edition of one of my favourite movies:  Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

And just now, having re-read those last couple of sentences, I realise how sad and pathetic it is to create a post about how one is excited about the anticipation of receiving a free DVD in return for being something of a corporate whore.
No.  I will not allow myself to fall for that kind of talk.  I am a valued member of the critical press.  My opinion is cherished.

It is also for sale.  If anyone else wants to send me stuff in return for my honest opinion of it, I’ll gladly listen to your offers.  Perhaps you have a photo you took, and you have no idea if it’s Art.  Send it to me, and I’ll tell you.  Maybe you’re in charge of soliciting low-ranking bloggers for their opinions on how well the latest video iPod works.  Send me one, and I’ll tell the world what I think.  Maybe you sell frozen beefsteak from the western provinces and are trying to get a foothold here in Eastern Canada.  Ship some steaks my way and I’ll cook ’em up and eat ’em.  Then I’ll tell the great multitudes of readers (conservatively estimated now at at least tens of ones) whether they’re worth purchasing.

A Friend’s MySpace Space

I don’t have much experience with MySpace. I tried to set up a page there for myself, but found it too time-consuming. Plus, I already have this lovely site, so why do I need to bother with another.
However, I did receive an email today from a friend who just set up his own MySpace site. He even put up some of his music.
Check it out:
Moe Gorman’s MySpace Page

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Will You Be My Friend?

I just signed up to Frappr, which is a kind of cool Google Maps way to view where your friends and acquaintances are, globally speaking.  It’d be superkeen if you took the time to visit my map and add yourself.  Click the link, won’t you?
The Annekenstein Monster’s Friend Map – Friend Map by Frappr Maps

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Those Who Hate Them, Hate Them A Lot

Two of the more annoying TV pitchmen in recent Canadian television history have recently ended their run.
First, a couple of weeks ago, the very annoying Fake Scottish bloke who rudely confronted drinkers of Keiths beer was released from his contract, due to alleged dalliances into child pornography.
While I wish it could have been for something far less seedy, I am, of course, thankful that he’s gone from the airwaves.  Because Those Who Hate Him, Hate Him A Lot.

And yesterday it was announced that The Canadian Tire Guy has been retired from the Canadian Tire advertising cycle.  Again, good news, I think, as I suspect that the shark has long been jumped by that campaign.
The Canadian Tire Guy has, actually, become quite a national phenomenon.  Especially the Hate that many people feel for him.  This very site happens to be the number one Google search result for “Canadian Tire Guy” and “I hate the Canadian Tire Guy”.  Ironic, I think, since the post referencing him ‘Why I Hate That Canadian Tire Guy’ has very little to actually do with him.   I find it curious that so many people actively enter the search parameters “Hate Canadian Tire Guy”, and I find it kind of funny that when they come to my post, they get a post that must leave them a bit miffed, due to the lack of reference to him.

And still the Curiouser keeps getting curiouser.  Today I received an email from a woman at The Ottawa Citizen asking if she could interview me for an article she’s writing on his retirement.  My initial response was “no thanks. I have nothing of value to add to such a story.”  But then I stopped and asked myself “What’s the more interesting and potentially, more exciting thing to do?  Be interviewed or not be interviewed?”  Since the obvious answer is “be interviewed”, and even though I still believed I had nothing of value to add to such an interview, I decided to do it.
So, I just got off the phone with the journalist.  We had a nice little chat about The Canadian Tire Guy, and also about the weirdness of how such an innocuous little post on such an innocuous little blog can lead to an interview (admittedly, on a rather innocuous little topic such as the Canadian Tire Guy’s retirement).  I think I ended up offering a few interesting sound-bites.

And, what the whole thing has taught me is that I’m pretty tired of saying, hearing and typing the phrase Canadian Tire Guy.

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Yeah, Yeah, I Know… A Blonde Joke

Okay, I know.  I’m blonde.  As such, I’ve heard my share of blonde jokes.  Most of them are pretty simple and not very good.

However, this blonde joke made me laugh out loud.  Yes, so much that I had to type each word:  Laugh Out Loud.

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Beatles Podcasts

Last night I found a great site that offers podcasts of various Beatles related things – interviews (with ‘the lads’), news reports from the era, music selections, demos, odd bits of this and that.

It’s called Beatlegs Podcast, and you can find it by clicking on the word link

If you’re a fan of The Beatles, and you’re looking for stuff you probably haven’t heard before, then this is the podcast for you.

Alone, At Last, You And I

Okay, I think it’s safe to return now.
Finally, Devoted Reader, you and I can be alone. All those fair-weather posters and hangers-on to this blog have by now departed for other blogs; tired of waiting for updates on the minutae of my life, desperate to comment on anything, anywhere, they have gone.
Now it can be just as it should be:  Me, posting my little moments of nothingness, and you, Devoted Reader, reading and occasionally responding.
This should show you, once and for all, Devoted Reader, just how committed I am to our relationship.  Do you have any idea how difficult it’s been, in the past ten days, to not post about the growth of my grass, or the status of my toilet bowl?  Yes, I know it’s been hard for you too, not having new updates about the Fist of Fingers, wondering how in the world you’ll get your updates on what I think of the final season of Six Feet Under.  I know it was hard for all of us.
But it had to be done.  I had to purge this site of its pending popularity.
Now it’s a wasteland, except for you, Devoted Reader, a desert of deserted thoughts and ideas.
Now that it’s just you and me, alone, well, now we can really get something going.

It’s the return of Daily Postings, here on The Annekenstein Monster.