mike the mountain

Did you know today (or I guess yesterday by now… April 30) was tax day? BOHICA baby… good luck!

On a much happier note, today was also Oatmeal Cookie Day! Now that’s something worth celebrating. This is also one of my favourite shots: Oatmeal Cookie, 1/2oz Goldschlager, 1/2oz Irish Cream (Bailey’s), shake over ice, top shot with cinnamon. It really does taste like an oatmeal cookie! yum-yum.

I mentioned my friend Steve the other day… If you are interested in being challenged mentally and spiritually, I highly recommend you read his blog. He doesn’t pull any punches with regards to his beliefs, and serves as a great inspiration and friend to many. Happy Oatmeal Cookie Day bro!

My friend Steve is a genius. Great guy, and his latest idea is, IMHO, one of his best, and deserves recognition.

iTunes. The Apple music store that’s kicking all sorts of tushy in the States, offering a decent selection of music and audible books with non-draconian rights management. Canada? Nah, we don’t want anything like that, right? OK, I understand that they wanted to work out all the kinks on the Yanks first, but now there’s talk of launching in Europe first! Now, even though there are some great alternatives out there, but none with the depth of selection and general cool factor of iTunes.

Anyway, Steve’s never been one to just sit around and bitch about stuff, he looks at how to make things happen. Here’s his idea: A petition for Apple, not just “sign here if you want iTunes” (they KNOW we want it), but a list of people and more importantly commitments to purchase music… He’s hoping for 100,000 to commit to purchasing 50 tracks off iTunes within the first week of it opening in Canada. THAT is something that Apple, the business, will pay attention to. But most important of all, is the commitment that, within 60 days of the completed petition being forwarded to Apple, if iTunes is not made available, those funds will be used to purchase music from other sources, with the results (receipts, etc.) posted for Apple to see the money they lost first hand.

Like it? Want your music? SIGN IT, and spread the word!

Falling behind in these posts… funny how having a girlfriend back in the house leaves less time for being a computer geek!

So, SUNDAY (April 25) was ANZAC Day (Australia-New Zealand Army Corps) for our friends and family “down under”. Kind of like our Rememberance Day, only they actually seem to care. They do the usual parades and ceremonies, then they all go and hit the bars like only Aussies and Kiwis can. But what REALLY impresses me in the practice of everyone dropping $50 on the bar “for the veterans”… BEFORE going drinking themselves. The unofficial drink is “Rum and Milk”, give it a try, and here’s to Grandpa!

Monday was Carol Burnett‘s birthday. Drop back a “Red Hot”: Peppermint Schnappes and Tobasco. Ooooh, this is a rough one, makes Prarie Fires go down like chocolate milk. Tastes like those cinnamon heart candies. Cool stuff, even if I was the only one with enough guts to try it!

The other thing that having an actual girlfriend doesn’t leave much time for is good old fashioned video games. Fortunately, when I do get to indulge a little Fantasy (of the Final kind), there’s GameFAQs, the ultimate online resource for game codes, cheats, reviews, walkthroughs, etc.. Game on!

Starship Troopers baby. The movie: one of the best. Definitely in my top 10. Got me in a lot of trouble opening night, but that’s a story for another time… The book: equally fantastic. The book, for those of you who haven’t had the pleasure, is far more deep socio-political commentary than action. The movie is, of course, all action, with only hints about the world in which the characters are doing battle in. This is one of the only cases I have ever come across where the book and the movie are both totally different and completely complementary. Two sides of the same story, the movie following the characters closely through the action, the book providing an analysis of the culture and society that bred these soldiers, one which values citizenship and considers it something to be earned through (military) service.

Dave brought up a great point once; this movie marked one of the first times (in our generation of Hollywood films anyways) of an alien society that we were a) demonstrably superior to and b) actively going out to kick the collective arse of. Instead of humanity always being the underdogs, it’s kind of nice to see us have the superior technology, firepower, etc.. Just an observation.

54*40 was playing today at the ski resort where I work. Classic Canadian rockers, always fun. I put together a really clever message on my specials board, but I completely forget it now dangit. Anyway, taking the name of one of their better known hits, I put together a drink called an “Ocean Pearl”: 1/2 oz Coconut Rum (Don Lorenzo’s in my case), 1/2oz Cointreau, 1/2oz Melon liquor, poured over ice in a fancy cocktail glass, fill with lime juice and 7-up. REALLY good, and very popular… crank the tunes and enjoy some brew!

Shakespeare’s birthday. I can’t believe I couldn’t find any cocktails to suit! None of the books I have had anything remotely Shakespearean of name, or renaissance-ian, or even theatrical…-ian? So I had to invent my own. Fortunately, I’m getting pretty good at it (IMHO). I needed something dignified, European… and with a floaty sword in it. So I filled a small snifter with ice and put a red sword in it, a drip of grenadine down the side (blood, get it?), 1oz Frangelico, 1oz Galliano, and top with soda. I originally wanted just the liquor, more of a digestif, but decided to go for more of a sweet, nutty cocktail kinda drink. I really liked this one, very different.

Discuss: in 500 years, whom amoung our current crop of literary artists, writers, playwrights, etc. will still be around? In other words, who will be our Shakespeare?

You ever hear/see Stewie‘s “Rocket Man”? Now that’s classic art.

And that’s as close as you’ll ever get to me referencing hip hop on this site… blah, I feel dirty.

You’ve heard of Google? They’re doing web-based e-mail now. Well, not quite now, it’s only in beta (ie: testing phase, ya newbie). Gmail. Look it up if you want info, or to hear a lot of people bitching about privacy stuff they don’t understand (I seriously don’t want to get into that here). I just mentioned it so I could brag about being part of the beta, and thereby getting to actually pick a name that doesn’t have numbers or underscores in it! I’ll let you know how it goes…

Today is the birthday of Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, Scientific Director of the Manhattan Project (the nuclear bomb guys, not the movie). A perfect excuse to try a Manhattan! Not my personal favourite choice, but a well known classic regardless. On my friend James’ advice, I went with 1.5oz Crown Royal, 1/4oz Sweet (Rosso) Vermouth, shaken, on the rocks with a cherry. Most recipies call for bitters, but James believes that most prefer it without. Good old fashioned classy old men smoking cigars kind of drink. If that’s your thing.

Debate: Is the world a better place because of the discovery of the nuclear bomb? Consider what was happening at the time, and what might have happened going forward… Have fun!

Twist your brain around this thing. I have no idea… It kind of makes me think about how wild freaky futuristic VR computer interfaces might look like one day. The site/thing itself seems to contain an endless supply of cross-referenced and indexed information; I think the idea is taking information to the next level, much like the internet now is compared to the old paper encyclopedias. While not necessarily practical (at least to my reckoning), it definitely is interesting.

Query: What do you think the most logical evolution of interface will be? We (as a species) have been through song and spoken word, to physical hard record (ie: written), and are currently sitting with the keyboard-mouse-screen combo. You’ve seen the movies and TV shows, what do you think makes the most sense in terms of communicating information to you, when and how you need it? Is it a handheld device? Ubiquitous terminals conveniently located? Special HUD glasses and voice control? Direct neurophysical communication via implants? How likely are these, and what do you think will be the next step? Maybe just something as simple as universal handwriting or voice recognition? If you could write reality, what would it be? How many questions can I put in a single paragraph before I sound completely pompous? We may never know…

Happy Birthday Rick Moranis! The most lovable loser on the planet, whether it be giant carniverous plants, nether-dimensional hell-hounds, or just kids with serious pituitary issues, this guy is just always in WAY over his head. However, speaking as a rabidly proud Canadian, one movie stands out above them all… know what I mean there hoser? So if you like your Brew a little on the Strange side (if you don’t get that, click on the last link ya doofus!), try a true Canadian liquid concoction: Depth Charge, 1oz Rye (I used Gibson’s) dropped into a pint of lager (I used Molson Canadian because we have it on tap, but any CANADIAN beer will do [because American beer is for children and the elderly]). And before I start getting a bunch of e-mails from people who think they know better than me, RYE and beer is called a Depth Charge, WHISKEY and beer is a Boilermaker. Nyah.

OK, here I am watching CSI: Miami, and I realized that the name of one of the murder victims is the same as one of my friends from University. Creepy.

Still getting all your news from TV, newspapers, and radio? Are you really so naive as to believe that what you see/hear is in any way unbiased and without ulterior motive? (Did you ever notice that naive is Evian spelled backwards?) Media companies are, first and foremost, BUSINESSES, whose goal is to make money, not provide information. And since our politicians are so dependant on the media for their success, guess who sees favour in the eyes of the lawmakers? The lesson here is to learn to take everything with a grain of salt. Think about WHY they are telling the story, and the way they’re chosing to tell it. And most importantly, actually put some thought and effort into educating YOURSELF about daily events. Find sources of truly independant (if that even exists), or at least alternative, viewpoints. Thankfully, the internet has provided a plethora of interesting and stimulating founts of information. A great place to start is the Guerrilla News Network. Now I’m not saying that they are any less biased, but it does offer you the other side of the spectrum. Once you’ve opened your mind to both sides of the information equation, you get to start scratching at the wonderful world of the truth… somewhere in the middle. It’s called thinking for yourself, a bit of a foreign concept for most, and definitely not what many would like you to start doing (all the more reason to, IMHO). Good luck, try not to hurt your brain (remember what I said about stretching?).

Now, on the other end of the intelligence spectrum: ever see Married… With Children? One of, if not THE, greatest sitcom(s) ever!! They invented the “slob-com”, the idea of a TV family that wasn’t all sunshine and smiles. And the king of all TV dads, AL BUNDY, set the standard for the self-pitying deadbeat loser. Ed O’Neill is a truly amazing comedic actor, and if you ever caught him in any of his post-Married projects, I think he proved himself more than capable in other worlds as well. Well Happy Birthday Ed! In honour of this great man and all the inspiration he has given us, I present BUNDY PUNCH: 1 1/2oz Bundaberg Rum (sugarcane rum from Australia), 1/2oz Cointreau, 2oz OJ (careful, it’ll kill ya!), 3/4oz grapefruit juice, 2tsp Coconut Cream, 2tsp Grenadine. Shake over ice, pour into a cocktail glass (over crushed ice ideally), top with a splash of 7-up. This drink went over very well, though I think it would have tasted better with pinapple juice instead of grapefruit. Here’s hoping I get the chance to share a few of these with The Man one day.

Prove it to me. Prove that you are more than just an elaborately designed simulation meant only to fulfill your role as outside stimulus testing my reactions and providing just enough believable environmental companionship to prevent me from questioning my basic reality. Just try and logic it out… anything you say to me can be considered a pre-programmed response, consistent with your designed parameters. Think of it like video game characters, and how they react to you within the game: with just enough depth and information to continue the plot. Now I know this sounds a touch solipsistic (guh?), but that’s not where I’m going here. The inspiration for this little mind-fark is (naturally) one of the greatest movie trilogies of all time: The Matrix. More specifically, an essay I read regarding the possibility (even the likelihood) that we actually are living in an artificial/virtual world (ie: Matrix). Very cool stuff, the book has a great collection of science/philosophy essays… great for stretching the brain. But hey, until then, here‘s a great online collection of links, reviews, essays, and commentaries regarding The Matrix and it’s related metaphysics…

So today is Easter Sunday. If that means anything to you, then I hope you had a meaningful day. If it doesn’t, I hope you at least got to enjoy some chocolate. Speaking of chocolate, I had a Chocolate Martini as my drink special today: 1oz Vodka (Skyy in my case), 1oz White Creme de Cacao. I dropped a couple smarties in for festivity, and yippie-skippie there you go. “Hey, they killed our Lord and Saviour, let’s go paint some eggs!”

Ron, Vanessa, Karen (hope I got your names right)… and to Ted and Scotty, some classic troublemakers from way back (we’ve known each other for like 5 years now, kinda scary eh?). Anyways, as soon as I get those pictures loaded up I’ll put a link on the side of the page here.

So today was Steven Seagal’s birthday (please God let him stop being in movies with rappers). Now whatever you think of his acting abilities, his martial arts abilities go beyond the silver screen. Mr. Seagal is the first foreigner ever to own and operate an Aikido dojo in Japan. Known as “Master Take Shigemichi”, he was the chief instructor at the Aikido Tenshin Dojo in the city of Osaka. He’s a 7th-Dan Aikido master, as well as an accomplished Kendo master. Though he is a vegetarian, so I could probably take him… (hopefully he doesn’t by some extreme fluke of fate read this). Maybe if I get him really drunk first… say on a big batch of “Nutcracker”s: 1/2oz each of Vodka (I used Skyy), Kahlua, Amaretto, and Irish Cream (you probably know Bailey’s, but I used Feeney’s because we’re trying to finish off our stock in the bar before the end of the season). Shake over ice and strain into a martini glass. And just in keeping with the imagery, throw a couple cherries in there. VERY tasty little apertif, strong, smooth, and flavourful. I bet it would be fantastic in coffee or hot chocolate as well.

By some coincidence I’ve been talking quite a bit about my time in the military during the past few days. Now I managed to get myself into a fair bit of trouble through my own natural individuality, but I have to say that SPC Schwarz definitely took things to a new level. I challenge anyone to try and compile a comparable list of things you’re not allowed to do at your job (remember, you have to actually be told by a superior that you, for example, are not allowed to let sock puppets take responsibility for any of your actions).