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  • Review: Wedding Crashers

    “Are they built for speed or built for comfort?”

    Classic.

    Watch this movie. It is amazing.

  • Oh Weather, You Have Forsaken Me

    If the weather was anything like it was in Ottawa this past weekend, I am sorry.

    Vero, Mike and I decided to go up to Matt’s cottage regardless of the rain because the long weekend fever hit us hard on Friday.

    Surprisingly, it had not been raining at all up there so that was a welcome change. We sat by the campfire for the remainder of the night and much hilarity ensued until 4:00 AM. It’s funny how time works…one moment you notice that time is moving slowly, then the next, you lose track of 4 hours. Whoa.

    The next morning, we awoke to someone shooting paintballs at the cottage and someone mowing their lawn in the middle of the rain. Odd. The paintballers were especially odd as we never found out who they were.

    Shannon and Adam were heading out to paintball for their bachelor party but it got cancelled unfortunately, due to the rain. We all met for some breakfast in a Population: 40 people town which was nice. It was good to see Adam again as it has been a few years. I like how some friends can just go back to being how they were together without a care in the world.

    A slew of us ended up going to the bowling lane in Smiths Falls which ended up being a vintage, vintage joint. I asked the 90-year old shoe guy if the shoes I was getting for the day were used by the bowlers who bowled 450. He said something like “You only wish Sonny!”. We had a good laugh.

    Smelly old cloths and some serious mid-game resets aside, it was fun times.

    After that, Alex, Mike and I returned to the cottage to cook up some sausages and then we packed the car and left. It is unfortunate that it was raining…it really puts a damper on the weekend.

    That night, Mike and I headed out for some bachelor party debauchery which included a hand of poker in which I split the pot at the end with Dave as it was getting late. Nothing wrong with money in my pocket.

    All in all, I thought it was hilarious how we packed up the car so much that we could have lived out of it for a week, but ended up staying there for one day. The same thing happened last year also. Really bad weather. But, Matt is a gracious host and I thank him for having us up.

  • Review: The Exorcism of Emily Rose

    Ah, victim of the hype.

    My friends went to see this last year in the fall and said it was a very scary movie.

    I love scary movies. Finally, I picked this up for $8 in the bargain bin at Blockbuster.

    Trish, Eric, Vero and Mike assembled to have their socks blown off by this fright show.

    Was it super scary? NAH! It had its moments but I was thinking a full out creepfest.

    Was it a good movie? Sure it was! I enjoyed it. I wouldn’t say it’s a must-own but it was interesting to think that its based on a true story of exorcism. You don’t really see that around these parts that often.

    I especially liked how the exorcism moved from the bedroom (ala The Exorcist) to the barn. I thought it was a wink and nod that they started out the bedroom scene for Exorcist fans.

    I’ll give this 1 1/2 thumbs up for the sole fact that my friends hyped it too much. Much like how I hyped up MI:3 and Mike and Melissa didn’t think it was the greatest.

    Oh, I almost forgot…I woke up this morning to Running with the Devil by Van Halen. Nice touch after watching this movie.

  • End of the World

    In lieu of most of the world (or in Canada) ending on May 25, drink a lot of beer this weekend.

    http://www.savelivesinmay.com/

  • Call Out For Tunes!

    Well, after much deliberation on my part, I have decided to go up to Matt’s cottage longer than I expected. There is a bachelor party planned during the same time for Shannon and Adam so I will split my time between the two – which is aided by the fact that they will be (hopefully) showing up to the cottage sometime Saturday afternoon.

    CALL OUT! You have until 3:30 today to submit your picks of tunes you want to hear on the guitar this weekend. Even if I don’t know it, I’ll print out the music and wing it. Granted, if I hadn’t heard the song at all, you’re out of luck.

    I think I may have freaked out Vero a little when I told her about the slave auction. I wasn’t thinking of it and now it’s too late for her to back out of it. It won’t be too bad…as long as I don’t buy her. I am notorious for being evil to my slaves.

    What’s the slave auction? Well, every newcomer to the cottage party gets auctioned off as a slave on Saturday day to the highest bidder and then they remain that way until Monday (or when one of them leave – but you have to be up front as to when you plan to leave). It’s pretty tame for the most part…fetch your master a beer, cook him some hot dogs…we don’t allow for the washing of dishes. Joe and I may be notorious for making people wear outrageous outfits such as underwear on their head, but besides that, it’s all good fun!

    And now that the party is on, I have to rush fast to make a killer t-shirt!

    iplaying: Crazy Mary (Champaign 4-23-2003) – Pearl Jam

  • Mike and Sam at OLP

    Oh, blogger, you finally work. Two days later this photo is able to upload.

    Samantha (Mike’s sister) came into town for a few days as she was in Montreal for a business trip. Seeing that Our Lady Peace was in town, they decided to pick up some tickets. I mentioned to them that I didn’t feel like going as I had already seen them this year, but mentioned that they should wait until the last day tickets are on sale because they usually open up more floor seats after measuring the stage.

    So, that’s what they do…pick up a few floor tickets for themselves and head off. Keep in mind that they are not entirely excited about this ordeal as they have no idea where their seats are. When I checked them out online, I noticed they were in Section .B, and not B which I took as probably some extra space they opened up in behind Section B. Only makes sense.

    So, they get to the Scotiabank Place, find section B (or .B turns out there was no difference) and proceed further, further, closer, closer to the stage until they get to three rows in front of the stage!

    AS IF.

    They said the concert was great…I read somewhere that Matt and Jen went to the concert randomly also.

    So, they are in the Ottawa Sun article since Raine Maida invited the press staff to take pictures of the audience instead of the band. So, there you have it. Mike and Sam, inside the Ottawa Sun. I am jealous, but super happy at the same time that they had this opportunity. That’s so wild.

    iplaying: Not For You (Boston 8-30-2000) – Pearl Jam

  • Zombified

    This is the second day in a row that I cannot get any sleep at night. Everyone has those days where they can’t sleep, but two in a row isn’t fair. Maybe it’s somehow connected to the rain in the city. I feel like a zombie…

    PERFECT segueway into my posting about zombies. If anyone is interested in getting made up into a zombie for a commercial which is filming this weekend in Ottawa, I suggest you get in contact with Vero. One of her cohorts in crime is organizing this shindig which should be fun. If you call working 7 – 5:30 at night fun. Personally, I can’t think of a better thing to do on the long weekend, can you?

    Speaking of the long weekend, pending rain, I should be heading out to Matt’s cottage for a bit and also out to Adam and Shannon’s bachelor party. That’s right ladies, these men are getting hitched so it’s your last chance to convince them to be with you instead of their wives-to-be.

  • Interview with Vero

    I did an interview with Vero for the Youth.gc.ca website if you would like to a look.

    CLICK ME !

  • My Letter to HMV

    To whom it may concern,

    On Friday, May 12, 2005 there was a message on my home phone from HMV indicating that my pre-ordered copy of the new Red Hot Chili Peppers album; Stadium Arcadium, was put aside for me at the Merivale Road location (located at Merivale Place 1651 Merivale Road (613) 226 9190 in Ottawa, Ontario) where I had placed the pre-order.

    Excited that the weekend had arrived and I finally had time to pick it up, I left my house in xxxxxx, xxx (hey, you don’t know what kind freaks are out here in the world reading my blog!) to drive out to the location.

    After driving the 30 kilometers to the store, with my pre-order confirmation voucher in hand, I went to the front cash to show them my voucher and ask for the album. After a few minutes of the cashier looking in cupboards and out on the floor and speaking on the phone with an unidentified person (whom I can only assume would be a supervisor on duty?), he informed me that they did not have a copy for me and was very sorry.

    Working in the retail industry myself at one point in my life, I chose not to express my frustration with the cashier who had no control over the situation. I politely asked if they could arrange for me to pick up the album in the xxxx,xxxx location since I did not wish to drive for 30 kilometres again in fear that the store would once again not have the album. I was impressed with the fact that they arranged it so I could pick it up at the other store even though the pre-order voucher indicated that this would not be possible.

    I would like to question how a store could go ahead and call people indicating that a copy of an album is now at the store and ready for pickup, and then not have it. I understand that the pre-order voucher does not indicate that a copy would be placed aside for the purchaser, however, considering the phone call I received which indicated so, one would think there actually would be, especially considering I had driven out to the location within 24 hours of the phone call.

    You may be asking why I had chosen to make the pre-order at the Merivale Road location in the first place considering it was 30 kilometres away from my house. I was picking up a DVD which was on sale and the only store in the area that had it left in stock was the Merivale Road location and at the time I noticed the pre-order deal for the new RHCP album and signed up. Unfortunately, I didn’t notice until later that the voucher indicated that I had to buy it at that location and not at any HMV location.

    I would ask two things:

    • Have someone explain to me (in writing) why this error occurred
    • Reconsider the policy on needing to pick up a pre-order in the same location that you placed it. It was easily done in my case as an exception, so why not do it for all who take part in the pre-orders?

    I must say that I am not impressed with HMV at the moment and that I will be spreading my distaste amongst my other friends who are known to frequent HMV stores. Hopefully my comments to my friends can be positive after hearing from you.

    Please note that I am sending this same letter to both the head office in Etobicoke, Ontario and to the Merivale Road location in Ottawa.

    Thank you,

    The Palmer

    ***and there you have it. I wonder what kind of response I will get. To all those who have ever been snubbed by stores – write to them! I am kicking myself for never writing sooner to Home Depot about my paint issues last fall…it’s probably too late to do anything. On the other hand, it doesn’t hurt to try, right?***

  • Review: The Trews at Tulip Festival

    I found out yesterday that I spent 4 hours on Friday night in torrential downpours. If you don’t know how that feels, think of how you would feel when your skin becomes a prune after 4 hours. Why the heck did we brave the elements?The Trews! Check out review here. Or you can just keep reading about our escapades.

    What may I say about the Trews? Out of Antigonish, NS, based in Niagara Falls, ON, these guys know how to rock. Like ‘whoa, did they just do that?!’ rock. The setlist was a haze from my concentration swaying from keeping rain out of my body, but it was a killer show with the guitar solos, the numerous encores and the smoke show which just looked like an amplifier blew up.

    Mike, Vero, Joe and I showed up at the Tulip Festival after it had rained all day thinking that we would get a reprieve. As soon as the Novaks went on it started to pour. But it was more of a ‘hey I’m going to rain on you but come at you from all directions so you don’t know what’s going on’. After the Novaks, Vero realized that she needed new clothes as she didn’t think it would rain so her and I went back to get some new clothes on her as well as some garbage bags for everyone.

    When we returned, 1,500 more people had filtered in so it was a pain to find Joe and Mike (let’s be honest, the only pain was the fact that I had two beers in my hand and there were umbrellas in the crowd). Once we found them where we left them (right up front) we settled in for the long haul.

    Highlights:

    • Someone proclaiming that as soon as they would take a sip of their beer, it would magically fill itself up again
    • Joe screaming at the very annoying girl from Antigonish who was dancing and screaming in our ears. I loved how she proclaimed to me “You’re not rocking enough! You Ottawa guys suck!” in which, in the Palmer sarcasm you all love, said to Vero “Vero, do you hear this? I didn’t realize that standing here in a torrential downpour to see a band we love counts as sucking as an audience. I suppose we should just leave.” And I did. To get some beer. But the look on her face was priceless. I think she realized she was speaking out of her ass at that moment. Note to all rockers out there: Everyone rocks in their own way. Especially in a freaking rainstorm.
    • Someone’s ten foot wide umbrella in which Mike said he saw some dude just shake all the time because it was in the way. Classic. Note to all umbrella toting rockers out there: Get out of the crowd. You don’t deserve to rock up front with us, regardless of how I just said four lines above that everyone rocks in their own way. You’re just making the night awful for the guys in behind you. #1 rule in rocking: Don’t interfere with another’s concert going experience. Except for you seven foot tall boys, there’s no way around that. Do your best to put the Oompa-Loompas in front of you, but don’t feel too bad. The Lord of Rock gave you a gift.

    So, once the night ended and we got our second wind, we went over to the faithful Heart and Crown to meet up with Philipp, Carrie, Brian and Sebastien. It was an amazing night and at that moment, drenched to the bone, we didn’t really care what we looked like (as apparent by the pictures taken that night) and we all felt like crap. Let’s just say I felt like I had dived into a lake for an hour with my clothes. My sneakers are still wet three days later.

    The band Pogey was pretty good in all their acoustic glory. Highligtts of that adventure were:

    • Asking Sebastien how he enjoyed his first trip to Montreal in which he replied “I will tell you all about it, but first I must rock to this song.” I love this guy already.
    • My shirt drying out and then having a beer spilled on me. Great.

    That did it for us for the rest of the weekend. Water-logged and miserable, we drove home and slept until noon. Then I meandered around on Saturday when I was supposed to get some hardcore essay work done. I ended up making a plan and whipped 1250 words up on Sunday which I am now happy with as it was bugging the hell out of me.

    However, I have a story to tell about a trip to HMV, but first, I must write a letter.

    iplaying: Parachutes – Pearl Jam (‘Avocado’ Album)