Moving on

Today I finally decided to get off my ass and setup a website for myself.

And move my blog there.

Behold my new address:

blog.fagstein.com

ADQ candidate predicts ADQ win

I guess we'll have to take this guy at his (perhaps somewhat ill-chosen) word.

All B countries are the same

This is just funny:

A map that appeared Saturday with a story about Canada's merchant navy in the Second World War identified Bermuda incorrectly as the Bahamas. And what the map should have shown was a different country altogether, Barbados.

More attention for a Montreal band

The manager of Montreal-based singer/band Dee (couldn't he pick a more search-engine-friendly name?) emailed me today to let me know that this music video, a parody of renowned video diary fraudster lonelygirl15 which I wrote about last year, has been (finally) chosen as a featured video on YouTube's homepage, and that another song by the guy/group is being used for a big Ford commercial that a lot of money was spent on but is not original in any way.

Principle? No, just greed

Looks like EMI is ready to give up its principles on digital rights management in exchange for more money.

Sweet, sweet greed.

Rgrs iz krstl clr in itz txt msgs lol.

Rogers, my cellphone provider, felt it necessary today to text me this message:

Change that boring ring ur callers hear 2 a cool tune w/CallerRingTrax. It's fun & easy! Reply YES 4 more info. 2 opt out of mktg msgs reply STOP

Aside from the fact that it's spam that I never asked for, and the fact that it's insanely inconvenient and insults my intelligence, I can't help asking the question: What is a 55-year-old technophobe who doesn't speak l33t supposed to do when he receives this message and wants to stop further ones? Is it just assumed that everyone with a cellphone writes messages like a desperate-for-acceptance 12-year-old?

Speaking of Craigs

Canadiens General Manager Bob Gainey showed he has the poker face of a champion by trading longtime (and hard-working) Hab defenceman Craig Rivet.

Hopefully Bob still has something in his cards that will give us a forward who can score goals.

Meanwhile, the blogosphere is starting to react.

Some are doing it philosophically:

We who follow the Habs have known for a while that Craig Rivet might be traded, and there had already been considerable debate amongst fans about the value of that decision. It was a difficult, wrenching discussion, since it almost completely centered on the concept of ‘intangibles’.

Others not so much:

LATENDRESS RYDER AND HIGGINS SUCK. HEATLEY IS THE MAN. [...] GO SENS GO

Meanwhile, the media in California seem to think this is a good deal for them too.

Dollar Cinema is dead. Long live Dollar Cinema

Tonight, in order to overcome an incredible surge of boredom, I went to Dollar Cinema to catch Casino Royale with the new Bond, Daniel Craig.

As I entered I noticed the Dollar Cinema is now a $2 cinema. It's still worth going (popcorn and soda are still $1), but on principle it seems strange. Kind of like seeing stuff at the Dollar Store that's more than a dollar.

The movie itself was OK. Craig makes a believable (though incredibly naive) Bond. But ... is there a second part to this movie or something? I feel unsatisfied. He doesn't even get a girl at the end! (Sorry if that spoiled it for you)

Montrealer wins unimportant Oscar

And most importantly, she was wearing a black dress when she did.

Congrats, Torill Kove.

It never rains but it pours

A girl ejected from a soccer game for wearing a hijab.

I'm not about to try to solve the reasonable accommodation debate here, but didn't anyone predict that this would happen when they created a rule to ban religious headwear?

UPDATE: Jean Charest takes the referee's side. Probably because the kids can't vote.