A Public Service.

Annoyed that you can't figure out what the hell that music in the new Blackberry ad is?  Wondering why it sounds a bit like Queen?  That's because it is Queen, with their theme for the 1980 flop Flash Gordon.  I've  never seen the movie, and looking at the clips here I'm in no hurry to.  (Melody Anderson's acting looks pretty bad here.) One thing that's amusing to me about the Queen footage in the vid is Brian May doing piano parts on an Oberheim OBX analog synthesizer.  For those not familiar with it, an OBX cannot do realistic piano sounds.

Gas In Saskatoon, May 20, 2011.

People tend to assume gas prices go up as a holiday approaches, especially a holiday that allows for lots of travel.  But that wasn't the case this week.  The price of gas actually dropped twice, with the price now at 127.9 cents a litre at most locations.

No Cleaner.

My street was supposed to be cleaned last night.  Didn't happen.  So, where the hell were the street sweepers?  I like watching those things.

Caitlin Wouldn't Work There.

Regular visitors of this blog will know I'm a fan of the now ended Teletoon teen sitcom 6teen.  Although an actual location is never given I've always felt that the series took place somewhere in Southern Ontario, specifically one of the cities of the Toronto region.  Via A Bit More Detail I found out that there actually is a Galleria Mall in Toronto.  Robyn Urback posted at blog.TO a report on the mall.  Unlike the animated megamall in 6teen this much smaller mall has seen better days.  Of course that's because they only share a name, with the TV version being based on Toronto's Eaton Centre and Edmonton's West Edmonton Mall, not this sad place.  It reminds me a bit of Saskatoon's Market Mall, which tends to have a vibe of being past it, but Market Mall is a powerhouse by comparison.   Interestingly in an early episode, "A Lime To Party," the owner of the Big Squeeze lemon drink stand, Big Steve, threatens to move it to a strip mall when sales drop.  I would imagine it would be a place like this real Galleria Mall. 

Gas In Saskatoon, May 13, 2011.

Gas prices seem to be in flux today.  Earlier this week they rose to 136.9 cents a litre at most locations, but today many seemed to have dropped their price a cent 135.9 cents.  Beats me what difference they think a one cent drop will make.

In Case You're Wondering...

Well, you probably aren't.  But on the off chance you are, no, the results of last week's election haven't effected my desire to post.  I simply haven't had anything I wanted to post make it to postable status.  I often get ideas when I'm away from the computer, but usually by the time I get back to it they've gone away. 

I Thought There Might Be A Loophole.

Under Canadian election law radio and TV stations can't broadcast election results until the polls have closed in the area they service.  The idea is to prevent voters from being unduly influenced by election results elsewhere in the country.  As a result the national CTV and CBC news channels are currently blocked here in Saskatchewan, where the polls won't close for just over an hour.  But the thought came to mind that the Sun News Channel might be accessable, since it's a new channel, and therefore whoever arranges such things might have missed it.  But it too is currently blocked. 

Frankly it wouldn't matter to me if I knew the results elsewhere in the country before I voted.  My mind isn't going to be changed on the day of the election.

Where Did You Vote?

In my case I can actually show you.  I voted at Saint Augustine Catholic elementary school, which was the subject of a post on my photoblog last year.  You'll only get a shot of the exterior, as I didn't think it appropriate to ask if taking photos of the actual voting was possible.  As noted voting takes place in the school's gym. 

I hope you got out to vote today if you had the chance, or voted in the advanced poll last week.  As always not voting means you defacto voted for whoever wins in your riding, no matter what you think of them. 

Where No One May Find Him.

Chances are this won't be the first place you'll find out that US forces have killed Osama bin Laden.  Although I would have prefered they captured him alive so he could be tried I'm not upset he's worm food.  But now an obvious question is what to do with his body.  I've already seen nonsense about wrapping him in pigskin or ideas along those lines.  Such ideas are childish and will simply incite violence.  The best thing to do with his remains is to dispose of them in such a way that they cannot be located again.  Bury him in an unmarked grave in a randomly chosen graveyard.  Better yet cremate him and scatter his ashes to the four winds.  This will make sure his corpse cannot become a relic, an idol,  a focus of veneration by those foolish enough to fall for his bullshit ideas.  Do all this in secret and only announce it after the fact, so that the act of disposing of his remains cannot be used by his followers, and the date it happened cannot become a day of memorial.  He doesn't deserve the attention.

Toss Trost.

Pretty simple message here.  If you're going to vote in Saskatoon-Humboldt tomorrow don't vote for Brad Trost.  It's time for this guy to go back to the 1950s or whereever it is he came from.  We don't need the kind of sexist, anti-gay, outdated mindset he represents in our government.  So send him packing.

Gas In Saskatoon, April 29, 2011.

Almost didn't get this one in today.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 131.9 cents a litre at most locations. 

Just In Case You Forgot.

Since we've got an election going on here in Canada you may have forgotten.  So here's a reminder.  Saturday, April 30th is the deadline to file your Canadian income tax return for 2010.  Yep, less than a week away.  Kind of appropriate that the election is May 2nd, since how you vote will decide who gets to spend your contribution to government revenue.

Heat Without Light.

If you're in Saskatoon and subscribe to Shaw digital cable you can see the new Sun News Network channel on channel 177, and apparently this applies in other markets as well.  A press release indicates the channel will be free for the first six months.  I won't be watching it given the stupid BS about "political correctness run amok" in one of their ads.  Funnily they played this promo right after a Liberal Party campaign ad, but presumably they have to play campaign ads no matter who offers them.  It will be interesting to see how well this channel actually does, as Conrad Black's attempt to create a right wing national newspaper, the National Post, has never made money.

Gas In Saskatoon, April 15, 2011.

Well, it didn't take long for another price increase.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 128.9 cents a litre at most locations.

As the price of gas goes up it will be interesting to see how much longer the companies keep selling it in cents a litre.  Although cents might sound cheaper than dollars 1.28 sounds cheaper than 128.9.  Not to mention that selling gas at a dollar twenty eight a litre will make it sound cheaper when compared to US prices in the four and five buck a gallon range.

A Whimper.

Manny Ramirez announced his retirement today after it was reported he had run afoul of Major League Baseball's drug policy again.  He apparently faced a 100 game suspension and decided to pack it in.  Pretty disappointing way for a career like his to end.  The Tampa Bay Rays will have a hole to fill, but better for it to happen a week into the season than for the saga to go on for weeks.

Gas In Saskatoon, April 8, 2011.

Once again it's time for the longest running feature on this blog.  Gas in Saskatoon is currently 123.9 cents a litre at most locations.  Barring other changes in the economy it will be interesting to see if the price increases towards the end of the month, when the Easter holiday rolls around and a bunch of people will be travelling.

Sorry, Jack.

I found your message on the answering machine this afternoon, but I'm afraid I can't come to Saturday monrning's NDP rally.  I like to sleep in on Saturdays, and I might not even be awake yet.  Good luck with the rally, as we certainly don't need Conservatiuve MPs being re-elected in Saskatchewan.

Sorry, Sportsnet.

You're up to your old tricks again, namely playing only some of the Toronto Blue Jays games on all Sportsnet feeds.  But I'm afraid it's not going to get me to subscribe to additional feeds or the Sportsnet One channel.  I'm sure it won't work on most other Jays fans either.

Disunite The Right?

This being April Fool's Day my thoughts drifted this morning to my former MP, Jim Pankiw.  He had said last year he'd run in the next election, and a March 26th Star Phoenix story indicates he's running here in Saskatoon-Humbolt.  Could he actually serve a useful purpose and pull votes from Brad Trost, and increase Trost's chances of losing?  One can only hope.  That's the only thing he actually can do in this election, drain off the idiot vote.  Trost isn't much better than Pankiw is.

It's The "In" Thing, Stephen.

What's wrong with our PM?  He keeps trying to convince people the other parties will form a coalition if he doesn't get a majority, and that this is bad, so they should vote for him.  Funny how his counterparts in the British Conservative Party don't seem to think coalitions are a bad thing.  They're even running around chopping things left and right like Harper would if he could get away with it.  Maybe he should reconsider the idea and think about forming one himself again if things don't go the way he wants.