Hallow's Eve...

I love Hallowe'en, don't you?

As the world gets more populated, countries ever more diverse, and religions of all sorts are further subdivided, North American society has continued general stat holidays for Christmas, but Hallowe'en remains on its own.

While I don't wish to be politically correct by any stretch, Hallowe'en is great because it doesn't matter what religion you are. All the witches and devil outfits fly in the face of religious fanaticism and further proves its what's inside that counts, not what you wear.

And like Christmas and Easter it's about the kids, isn't it? Kids love dressing up. They get to be something else for a day. You see them in a Batman or Catwoman costume, it doesn't matter, as long as it's fun.

And the chocolate. My oh my. Neighbourhoods opening up their doors -- house decorations, scary fun stuff indeed. Kids from all religions take to the streets. They don't know or even care if Sunjit loves Jesus, or if Kwan prayed to Allah today. We can learn a lot from kids.

The kids love the mystery of it all. They love their Harry Potter (well ... so do I!). "What are you going as?" "Not telling 'til you see." Again, it's all about the kids.

Well, I gotta go put on my costume again and head off to a party. I love it!

Happy Hallowe'en!!!!!

Governance by Polls

We no longer have a democracy in Canada.

This was recently confirmed by an article I read that the federal gov't was going to look into lower and middle class tax cuts due to the upcoming budget surplus (read: the money they owe you).

The Liberals think this is a good idea to quash any backlash they'll get from Gumgate. What's Gumgate? Well, although I made it up, it's a term I'm "coining" (ha!) for former Canadian Mint CEO David Dingwall's crazy expenses, which allegedly included a pack of gum.

So, if there was no Gumgate, then they wouldn't have to look at tax cuts. WOW. That's vision. That's real leadership.

"We'll wait and see what the polls say about this."

Nevermind what you elected them to do based on their platform anymore.

We're being governed by polls. What's the point anymore. We could have a bunch of lackies in ttawa, umm, wait, .... UNELECTED lackies (there that's better, or we could just say bureaucracts I guess) UNELECTED lackies conducting polls to determine the will of the people.

Of course many of these polls are conducted in friendly areas. Do a straight poll here in Alberta and see what kind of reaction the federal gov't would get.

Reason #843 why I'm an Alberta Separatist. (In case you didn't know.)

Full Circle or Highway to Hell?

Some say that hell is when you repeat the same thing over and over again.

Some say that hell is when you repeat the same thing over and over again.

Some say that hell is when you repeat the same thing over and over again.

Music of today condensed two and a half decades in just two and a half years and we, my generation has been listening to a perverbial hell. Kids today don't know it though. But I do. I remember.

What the h-e-double-hockey-stick am I talking about?

As mopesters Theory of a Nickelfault continued on their guitar solo-less radio friendly 4 chord songwriting careers, I knew this new sound wouldn't last as soon as it started. And it didn't.

People got quickly tired of it and demanded something new and fresh, like buns in bakery.

A couple years ago, when classic rock appeared to be making a comeback, we were inundated with new bands like Jet, The Trews, and The Darkness, rehashing old styles from the 70's, if not blatently plagerising. ("Are you gonna be my girl?" is EXACTLY like "Lust For Life" is it not?) Don't get me wrong, I liked the comeback. I'll take it over moperock any day.

But then what happened? Well, after we had a brief stint with classic 70's rock, I thought, what's next, punk? Yep. Inspired on by Green Day, we had high school "punk" skater revival where every beat was snare drum and every song had 3 chords. Fuck, even Avril Lavigne outgrew all that.

So then I thought? Wait a minute. I see a pattern here. Hmmm, I'm starting to hear more keyboards on the radio? Oh no, not again! Next up was that every freakin' new band was named The Blahs and led by The Killers, 80's retro rock made a comeback. Mod styles were in again, and then there was that day I sauntered down from my office to Holt Renfrew and what doth I see on manakin man? It was like a freakin' time warp where Miami Vice meets Chet the homosexual tennis player and pink alligator shirts were once again the rage. But thankfully, that style ended quickly, the starch thrown out, and the late 60's early 70's hip style (that's why it's the best period in fashion ever) remained. Gee, were sales going to shit?

And as the music got poppier, I thought, "Uh oh, here we go. What's next, 80's glam metal ballad rock?" Sure as shit. But who were the new bands reviving the cheesy hair spray? Well, there weren't any? You know why? YOU FUCKING WANNA KNOW WHY? I'll tell you why. Because a lot of those bands from back then, a whole freakin' 20 years ago, ARE STILL AROUND. And they were touring! And they were selling out! Sometimes TWO SHOWS! Case in point: Motley Crue. Even Quiet Riot came back, then Def Leppard, ad nauseum. Dead horses everywhere!

But then there was the icing on the cake. I couldn't believe it, but wasn't surprised. Nickelback releases their fourth album. How does a band get shitter after each album? What the fuck was Chad thinking? Oh, I know. "Well, it seems 80's glam metal ballad bands are making a comeback. Why don't I write some and fill the void?" What's even sadder is he doesn't even stack up against those shmaltzy songs. I'll put a Whitesnake, Europe, shit even Brighton Rock (remember them?) tune up against Chad "Can't sing higher than middle C" Kroeger. His voice does not warrant it. Hehe, Warrant. Get it? Chad, stick to the gut wrenching growly rocker riffs, or you gettin' soft?

Okay, enough of the Nicklebashing (for now anyway). As I've said in other postings, there are some bands that have transcended and perservered through all this repeated crap and actually sound original, even though some of them are a mish mash of the old . Even then, at least they have vision. Let's list a few, shall we?

- Queens of the Stone Age
- Audioslave
- Velvet Revolver
- Foo Fighters

But let's look at this though. All the guys in these bands were in what bands that emerged after 80's glam metal died? Early 90's grunge! The Seattle alternative sound! I don't need to list all those bands do I? You reading this should know. If you don't then stop reading this blog!

So you can guess what music style is just around the corner can't you? I know, I'm not looking forward to it either. Go pull out your CD collection from 10 years ago and you'll see. Then the next thing you know, Nickelback will make a comeback.

I'm on a highway to hell.