Fake News

"In terms of who I channel, my natural inclination was Stone Phillips, who has the greatest neck in journalism...and then I also used Geraldo Rivera, because he's got this great sense of mission. He just thinks he's gonna change the world with this report. He's got that early-'70s hip trench coat "busting this thing wide open" look going on. So those two guys. And Peter Mansbridge, obviously." - Stephen Colbert (A Super Straight Guy | AlterNet WireTap)

Oct-olbert: "Strangers With Candy" will be released on October 21 and Colbert Report debuts on October 17.

Word

Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest 2005 Results

Photo

"I'm so pleased to be coming to Halifax. I should be in Bermuda. But who cares? I'm home," said Nancy Shakleton (CBC Nova Scotia)

Film

"Michael Moore and Mel Gibson are the same person, except for a few sit-ups. Moore thought his cheesy political blooper reel was going to tell people how to vote. Mel thought that his little gay S&M movie about his imaginary friend was going to help him get to heaven. George W. Bush is president and there’s still no god. You failed boys. Someone should have told Mike that the bad guys are smarter than him and someone should have told Mel that the Three Stooges were Jewish." - Letter from Penn Jillette (Official Site)

"A work of painstaking and penetrating scholarship...one of the most original and rigorous pieces of criticism in any medium I have encountered in quite some time...also possibly the filthiest, vilest, most extravagantly obscene documentary ever made." - A.O. Scott on The Aristocrats (New York Times)

Column

Atlantic News Perspective #151 (July 25, 2005)
Playing chicken with chickens, knifed in church and lending a harp.
By: Iain K. MacLeod

Clothing

No Sweat Apparel is being sold at Outside the Lines at 6297 Quinpool Road.

Doppleganger

Looks like I have another person to add to my mistaken identity list. Someone I met on the weekend thought I worked at Neptune Theatre in downtown Halifax.

Email

I posted this to a messageboard awhile ago, but I thought I would share some reasons to switch from HoTMaiL to Google Mail.

* ever-increasing storage space
* completely free
* speed (page doesn't have to reload to sift through messages)
* forwarding ability (works well with another account)
* POP downloading (you can use an e-mail program if you want)
* amazing searchability
* GmailStatus (Mac Os X)
* interesting hacks are popping up all the time
* you can read mail with an aggregator
* to me, Google is innovative and inspiring...Microsoft is stagnating. I cringe when I see a somethingorother@hotmail.com on a business card or on a band web site. I guess I am an e-litest!

Glowie

Column

Atlantic News Perspective #150 (July 18, 2005)
Salmon cams, backyard wrestling and the gay market.
By: Iain K. MacLeod

Comic

Music

Windom Earle's "Ode To Greg's Cat" is being used to close the weekly national CBC Radio One show "Lost & Found" hosted by Matt Rainnie.

Quote

"If you are a lonely sort, as internet folks occasionally are, you will be relieved to know that, as always, there is someone on the internet a hundred times worse off than you are." - Drew on the Insane Clown Posse Personal Ad Site (Klepto Pepto | .net)

Quote

"Some choice is better than none, but more choices don't make things better," - Carl Honoré (Time to switch off and slow down | BBC News)

Nerd Alert

I called the Paper Garden in Barrington Place a couple weeks ago looking for a Fisher Space Pen and they said "oh yeah, we carry those but we are sold out right now." I said, "OK" and then hear *click*. Nice. Why is it so hard to give money to some companies? Anyway, I started to look elsewhere and couldn't find any evidence of the pen around town and began to think that the US Amazon store was my best bet. Then, carrying an armload of crap through Staples, I saw they had just started stocking them in the pen section out of the corner of my eye. Only available in silver, but I was able to get over my current pen fixation (sparked by this somewhat illogical testimonial: "The Space Pen writes upside down, underwater, and—yes I’ve tested it— through a pat of rich, creamery butter.") and can safely move onto some other empty, meaningless obsession. Note: Even though Primer sums up the ridiculous nature of such an object, I still love it.

Books

GTD: A New Cult for the Info Age | Wired

A Guide To Getting Things Done | Wired

The Sources: David, Merlin and Marc.

Event

alFresco filmFesto 5.0 has been announced. You can vote for your favourite John Hughes movie here.

Column

Atlantic News Perspective #149 (July 11, 2005)
Strawberries in New Brunswick, an iceberg controversy and a broken down ambulance.
By: Iain K. MacLeod

Post (Halifax Locals)

http://podcast.ckdu.ca/
Featuring: Popped Culture, Let's Get Baked & What's New Mitsou?

The Real Terror

Reaction to the London Terrorist Attacks | Fox News

Film

Rubber Johnny | d. Chris Cunningham

Column

Atlantic News Perspective #148 (July 4, 2005)
Harnessing tidal power, a drug bust off the coast and lightning strikes a church.
By: Iain K. MacLeod

Anagram of the Moment

Katie Holmes = Tom Likes a He (courtesy of Popbitch)

Post

Anti-Hit List is Alive | MetaFilter

TV

A Sore for Sighted Eyes Clips | TV Carnage

TV

Gumby's Skateboard Rally

Event

The Bell City Chase - August 6th

Music

Windom Earle EPK

Auction

Industry Pass to Atlantic Film fest-Take One magazine

Column

Atlantic News Perspective #147 (June 27, 2005)
Gross National Happiness, drive-by paintballing and attack of the ants.
By: Iain K. MacLeod

Music

Ween are releasing "Shinola Vol. 1" (a collection of odds, ends, and leftovers from around our studio and contains killer new mixes of a lot of songs that have been floating around the web in really crappy fidelity for a long time...12 songs deemed "too brown" to be put on any of their commercial CDs) on July 19th on their own Chocodog label. The CD can be Pre-Ordered here and will be available through their own site shortly.

Skeptics

Remember Flim-Flam | Slate
How to be a modern skeptic. By Daniel Engber

Religion?

Religious Gadget Thursday: The E-Meter | Gizmodo

Scientology's Prisons and Slave Labour | MetaFilter

Quotes

"So I broke both his ribs." - some girl on Spring Garden Road commenting on how she handled it when her boyfriend called her a stunned cunt.

"It's not a boob job. It's a boob career." - me commenting on the latest incarnation of Pamela Anderson on the cover some men's mag.

"Buckle tuckle." - Beth's description of a guy wearing a t-shirt that is only tucked in such a way that you can see his belt buckle.

"Who has more fun than people?" - a co-worker recalled this phrase from his youth.

Magazines

50 Best Magazines | Chicago Tribune

Note: Local magazine focusing on "Buddhism, culture, meditation, life" comes in at number 29.

Comic

Toothpaste for Dinner | Slate
A slide-show tour of the most addictive comic on the Web. By Sam Anderson

More...

Book

Bill Hicks: Agent of Evolution | Sacred Cow Productions

Music

The New Pornographers - "Use It" | Stereogum

News Flash

Nerds make better lovers | New York Daily News

Film

Broken Flowers | d. Jim Jarmusch

Note: The trailor features a great track ("My Own Memory" by Yègellé Tezeta) that I have always liked from Ethiopiques, Vol. 4: Ethio Jazz & Musique Instrumentale, 1969-1974.

Event

Halifax Locals

What do you get when you take one deep fry cook, four bands, six pairs of pants and one shared passion for seafood? If you're lucky, you'll get The Rolling Chowder Travelling Revue featuring BA Johnston, Windom Earle, The Intesteens, Away Ri'o and a huge assortment of other bands sailing across the Maritimes this summer in search of buried treasure and great discounts on seafood.

Sincerely,
Frank W. Peterson
President of the Rolling Chowder Chain of Family Restaurants

The Rolling Chowder Travelling Revue

1) any of various usually burrowing marine and freshwater bivalve mollusks of the class Pelecypoda, including members of the genera Venus and Mya, many of which are edible.
2) a thick soup containing fish or shellfish, especially clams, and vegetables, such as potatoes and onions, in a milk or tomato base.
3) remarkably full-featured and sturdy wheel that brings a lot to the driving experience.

In unrelated news, The Lost Tape of Dan Norman Cummings has been unearthed and digitized.

Column

Atlantic News Perspective #146 (June 20, 2005)
Returning the rock, perfect attendance and stealing cars.
By: Iain K. MacLeod

Music?

The Secret Life of Beck Hansen - A Guide for the Professional Journalist | lermanet.com

Fact

I have never (nor will I ever be) a member of the Scottish Mountaineering Club.

WWW

craigslist: halifax, NS classifieds for jobs, apartments, personals, for sale, services, community, and events

What eBay Could Learn From Craigslist | NY Times

Prank

Architecture students created a stir Friday by erecting a sign announcing Wal-Mart was coming to downtown Halifax. (CBC Nova Scotia)

Audio

THE LOST TAPE OF DAN NORMAN CUMMINGS | windom earle

Film

The 40 Year Old Virgin | d. Judd Apatow

Music

The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus