Bye Bye Cigarettes

Screw you cancer!

So this summer I was finally able to give up my addiction to cigarettes. I can’t even imagine how much money I inhaled and the disappointment I caused my family. But now I feel like I've set things right in my life. About 2 years ago I started reading about electronic cigarettes and their popularity in the US, but in Canada they were basically impossible to get. After a little while they started to release certain brands into the Canadian market, but alas they had to contain no nicotine. It is not legal yet for vendors to sell pre-loaded electronic cigarettes with nicotine in Canada. I tried the no-nicotine e-cigs and yes they produce vapor and taste nice, but without the nicotine it was more of a novelty than anything.
In May of this year I was at my local sketchy convenience store, probably to buy cigarettes, when I saw something I had only seen online, a refillable vaporizer. Upon asking the clerk it turned out he was also selling nicotine e-liquid so I tried it out and fell in love. On that day in late May I threw away the last of my cigarettes and I have not smoked one since. 

Now the apple martini liquid by HD Vape was not very good at all, and I even questioned the actual nicotine content. But after a while I discovered the website http://www.canadaejuice.com. These guys had a great, easy-to-use website with a huge selection of liquids and accessories. They make it really easy to get started with vapeing and have nice staff. Their prices are also much better than other vendors I’ve seen in my area. There’s a guy at my local flea-market who also sells vape equipment and liquid but everything you buy from him is about 5 dollars more expensive and he has no where close to the selection CanadaEJuice has.

nd I can honestly say that after about 3 months I never NEVER want to pick up another cigarette. And how was I able to do this? With a nicotine vaporizer, that’s how, and with the great people at CanadaEJuice.

A typical vape. 

There’s a good chance you have seen a vape or electronic cigarette before but didn't really get what they were all about. Essentially the device is devised of two parts: a battery and an atomizer. The battery is usually activated by a button or by the back pressure from the user pulling on the e-cig. The atomizer is the top section where you suck on and is filled by the e-liquid. The current from the battery heats a coil in the atomizer that vaporizes the e-liquid and produces the “smoking” effect. You then inhale the vapor into your lungs, like you would with a conventional or “analog” cigarette, and then exhale. The main benefit is that you are cutting out all of the thousands of dangerous chemicals that are added to cigarettes and instead are only inhaling 3 very benign chemicals. The three chemical are propylene glycol (often pumped into the air in hospitals to help with sanitization, also used in some dog foods), vegetable glycerin (used in the food industry as a sweetener and is also used in products like toothpaste and cough syrups) and of course the addictive component of cigarettes, nicotine. Now I know that nicotine has a pretty bad reputation because of tobacco and its use as an insecticide. Nicotine can actually increase concentration, relax the body, promotes the growth of new blood vessels (which can really help diabetes patients) and can reduce depression in people with schizophrenia. The medical industry has been looking for a viable delivery system for nicotine for decades, and vaporizers may be that step forward.If you want any more information check out http://www.canadaejuice.com and feel free to search google and find the hundreds of testimonials from long term heavy smokers who were able to drop the habit in a matter of moments. You too can be smoke free! I urge any smoker to try an e-cig or vaporizer and see if its right for you! 

Prometheus - Gave me an Alien RessurErectio...nvm

So around the beginning of May my family and I packed up and moved from our home of over 20 years and settled down about an hour away. Things haven’t been easy but I am finally settling in to being in a new place. The town isn’t horrible (doesn’t feel like home though) but it does get lonely when you’re an hour and a half drive to your friends.

                As an attempt to keep my sanity in strange new surroundings I have made almost weekly trips alone to the movie theatre. Okay I know it sounds really sad, but it’s has actually been amazing. It’s a really different feeling when you know you don’t have to wait for people, line up with friends so that they can get snacks, worry about annoying your girlfriend what you have to piss, or having to converse about what you did and didn’t like. So far I’ve seen The Avengers, MIB 3 and most recently Prometheus; and I’m sure I’ll be seeing many more this summer.

                When I first saw trailers hit the internet for Ridley Scott’s Prometheus I started to get super excited, especially when I heard the story was occurring in the same universe as Scott’s Alien films! Since I was a child I have equally loved and been afraid of the Alien series, with its dark, hopeless atmosphere. I think when I was around 10 I even drew comics and wrote my own Alien stories. So last week I finally picked my ass up from behind my monitor and drove to the local Cineplex.

Left to right: Charlie Halloway, Elizabeth Shaw, and the android David

     Right off the bat I must say I was thrown off but the interesting direction they took the story in, and how the Alien storyline is interwoven. The film starts with two scientists discovering a final piece of a puzzle that seems to point out Aliens visiting different cultures in ancient times and all pointing towards a certain destination. The two paleontologists, Elizabeth Shaw ( Noomi Raprace ) and Charlie Halloway (Logan Marshall-Green) they pitch their discovery and are funded by an infinitely rich, dying old, Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce). Weyland pays for a space ship to take them in stasis sleep to a moon mapped out by corresponding relics on earth. The ship is operated by Mission Director Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) who assisted by the lifelike android David (Michael Fassbender) as well as a group of contracted engineers and scientists.
   

               Eager to meet the aliens that they believe hold the secret to life on Earth, the crew finally lands the moon many millions of miles away and lands on its surface. Immediately they find large relics from an obviously intelligent civilization, and what started as a hope filled journey becomes a nightmare they could have never imagined. The film takes am extremely dark turn when they begin exploring the alien relics and discover dead bodies in the ship. Suddenly the whole operation is in danger as secret motives are revealed and the great mystery unravels in a unprecedented hopeless way.    

As with many of Ridley Scott’s films the special effect and costume work are very well done. They did a fantastic job of showing off a realistic jump forward in technology (Prometheus takes place in the year 2093) that doesn’t leave you thinking “pfft yeah right buddy!” The makeup and costume work was unprecedented notably on the alien “Engineers” and on the amazing transformation of Guy Pearce to the 93 year old Peter Weyland.

                The one major problem I had with Prometheus was mainly in the choice of actors. While much of the cast, especially Charlize Theron and Michael Fassbender put on great rolls I often found myself off put and annoyed with Rapace and Marshall-Green’s performance. Through several parts from start to finish their acting comes of unfulfilling, dry and unrealistic.

                Despite its short-comings (which it has very few) Prometheus was a fantastic film filled with elements of fear, comedy, suspense and mystery that could easily fulfill a much wider audience compared to its Alien film counter-parts. Despite some annoying acting this film still shines in my book as one of the best films I’ve seen this year. I give this film a very well deserved 8.9/10!

Terri - A very Un-Terri-ble Movie

I deeply apologize for my absence, but I have been one busy boy (I also apologize for the title of this post as well, i couldn't help myself). I just started back at College for the second time to finish a couple of diploma programs (my main one being Television Broadcasting) and it has been absolutely insane! Its hard to find time to write a blog post after long days of shooting and editing videos of my friends acting like retards. I have been just bombarded by assignments and the whole first semester and felt very badly about adding another blog to the internet graveyard. So I figured to break the silence I would talk about what was one of my favorite movies of 2011, Terri.

Terrie was one of the most unique interesting independent comedies I have seen in years. Terri is extremely character driven, with amazing actors like John C Reilly (Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Boogie Nights), Creed Bratton (The Office) and Jacob Wysocki as Terri. The film is about a naive, overweight, socially separated, depressed 15 year old boy who feels as if he is only floating through life and has given up trying to impress anyone, par example he has decided to ditch conventional clothing and only wear what I would refer to as "Old Man Pajamas". One thing that can be said about Terri though is that he does not have a lack of self esteem and reacts without a perception of what other may think of him.  Terri lives in a big old house with his often pharmaceuticaly comatose Uncle James (Creed Bratton), who is an odd curmudgeon who doesn't often accept visitors and lives a very simple life. It is revealed later in the film the sad reason why Terri is not with his mother and father.

Terri and his sexually confused friend

Near the beginning of the film Terri is befriended by his high school Vice Principal Mr. Fitzgerald  (John C. Reilly) after he notices his obvious social awkwardness and lack of friends. Terri and Mr. Fitzgerald attend weekly sessions as a way to reach out to Terri and discover why he is such a social outcast. Many of the best and funniest parts of this movie come from the relationship between Terri and Mr. Fitzgerald and their unique and realistically odd conversations. Throughout the film the relationship between the 2 becomes tighter and eventually expands beyond the guidance councilor-esq vibe. Through his frequent trips to the principals office Terri also begins relationships a sexually confused girl and a messed up (and possibly schizophrenic) boy named Chad. The world of Terri is one that is so real but at the same time off kilter and not precisely real. At some times this movie is comparable to the very popular 2004 indie film Napoleon Dynamite.

This film is engaging and absolutely and had enough going for it to keep me immersed in Terri's world and mind set. You really begin to feel and care about this unique character as you see that he really has the best intentions but is not understood by the world around him. Terri is very much a 21st century coming of age story like no other. I would easily give this film a 9 pairs of blue pajamas out of 10. Okay I know my ratings don't mean anything because i only write about stuff I like but who the hell cares... or even reads this thing?
 

 

Oz

The main cast of Oz

So over the last couple of months I really haven’t been very active with this blog. This is mostly due to me being completely obsessed with the late 90’s prison drama Oz. My only recollection of Oz from when I was a kid is that it used to come on right before Red Shoe Diaries on Canada’s ShowCase station. I had no idea of the amazing show that I was missing. Fast-forward to just a few months ago and while looking for prison shows online (which I often do) I discovered Oz and was totally enamoured.

Oz was HBO’s first 1 hour dramatic program and ran from 1997-2003. Oz focus’ on the prisoners of the Oswald State Maximum Security Penitentiary, focusing mainly on the experimental unit known as “Emerald City” [the shows tagline was: “There’s no place like home.”].  Oz starred Harold Perrineau (The Matrix) as Augustuce Hill, Lee Targesen (Wayne`s World, Generation Kill) as Tobias ``Toby`` Beacher, J.K. Simmons (Juno, and like every TV show) as Vern Schillinger, Dean Winters (Law and Order: SVU, 30 Rock) as Ryan O`Reilly and a cast of more than a dozen characters that make this show amazing.

From the beginning Oz is narrated by prisoner Augustuce Hill (also a regular character in the shows story line) who is a wheel-chair bound recovering drug addict who’s serving line in prison for killing a SWAT officer. The narration occurs several times during each 1 hour episodes and usually features Augustuce Hill in a floating glass box is very odd surreal scenarios.  The narration plays such a huge role in the show and it’s effective way of storytelling.

The main prisoners in the series live in an experimental unit called Emerald City which (for most of the series) is operated by Tim McManus (Terry Kinney). Em City was created to give certain chosen prisoners a more satisfying life and more of a chance of rehabilitation from drugs and the criminal methodology.  Of course this is not the case. Oz is completely controlled by the brutal racial gangs: The Homeboys, The Arian Brotherhood, El Norte, The Irish and the not so violent Muslims and Christians. The gangs use their power to control the flow of drugs into the prison (heroin being the big drug in Oz) and with the sale and trafficking of drugs comes murder and violence.

Agustuce Hill continued his job an narrator even after his death

You could say that the main character in Oz is Tobias Beacher (a lawyer and father of 2 who was convicted of driving under the influence and vehicular manslaughter and serving 15 years) . The show begins with his journey into Oz and the deceit and pain he walks into almost immediately. Upon arrival Tobias is bunked with the leader of the Black gang The Homeboys who immediately begins to harass and threaten the scared meek Tobias. Arian Brotherhood (Nazi) leader Vern Shillinger sees what’s going on and swoops in offering the bunk in his pod. Tobias is automatically made the “bitch” of Shillinger and is continuously raped and humiliated forcing him to do heroin to numb the pain.  After a while Toby gets his hands on some PCP, goes absolutely batshit crazy, breaks the glass on his cell and stabs Vern right in the eye. And then after knocking him to the ground and *cough* defecates right on his face.

This is only one example of the rawness of Oz. Every season...every episode even, includes events that will completely spin your head. Every episode of this show feels like an entire movie in a saga. The way the show is balanced so that every group and every main character is progressed and followed through accordingly is almost mind blowing at times.

Ryan O'Reilly - Probably plotting someones death

I could go on for hours going into each character and going on in detail about each season but i really don’t have the patience or motivation (and I’m sure you guys are getting tired of my typos by now).  So in a nutshell this is perhaps one of the most fulfilling dramatic television programs I have been witness to. I would suggest picking up at least the first season because after that you’ll be hooked. I give Oz a very obvious 9.8/10 (what a surprise another positive review).

The Godfather Part I - It's about damn time

Okay so everyone knows that Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" series of films are among the critical god tier of 20th century motion pictures. Embarrassingly enough I must admit that before today I had never seen, in it's entirety (though I've seen bits and pieces of the movie many times),  The Godfather (1972) staring an all-star cast of cinema gods like Al Pacino (Scarface), Marlon Brando (Guys and Dolls), James Caan (Las Vegas, Elf) and Robert Duvall (True Grit [1969], Apocalypse Now).

The Godfather is an amazing compelling account of the trials of tribulations of the power that comes with control and the pain and prosperity it can bring. Part I revolves around the Corleone crime family (one of the big five mafioso families in post WW2 America) and the leader Don Vito Corleone (Brando).

The movie begins on the day of  Don Corleone's daughter's wedding, and the tradition of friends of the family friends and business associates requesting favors of Don Corleone. You learn off the bat, through a tense conversation the ideals of honor, tradition and vengeance that are held by Don Corleone. The opening wedding scene introduces all of the main characters and themes of the movie in a beautiful way that at no time feels rushed or forced. You are introduced to Vito's son, Michael Corleone (Pacino), who has just come back a hero from WW2, Vito's other son Santino "Sunny" Corleone, and the families many henchmen.

Mr. Ed gets iced

Though Vito Corleone seems very calm and controlled you can tell he is a man of great control. You are proven this early on when he makes a movie director an "offer that he cant refuse" when he asks him to allow a friend of the family to be in his new war film. When the director refuses Corleone has his consigliari place the severed, bloody head of his prized race horse in his bed as a warning.

The Corleone family is stepping into a new world of crime, beyond their typical dealings in gambling and booze, they must weigh the possibilities of  moving into the new, and profitable, world of narcotics. When Don Corleone refuses to enter the drug trade he his gunned down in the street; creating a war between the 5 families. This forces the mostly passive, Michael Corleone to protect the family and their interests while Vito is in the hospital recovering from the many bullets that were pumped into him.

Pacino will never stop being badass.

From here the story is about the changes that Michael goes through and his rise and hold as the to-be new leader of the family. I could go on all day of the details of this movie but I don't want to give to much away, especially if your like me and hadn't seen this film and wanted to go into it with a clean slate. The Godfather part I is one of few movies I could call nearly perfect on all levels. Near perfect shot composition, score, acting, continuity and screenplay are all beautifully weaved together to create of one of the greatest films to ever touch the silver screen (and my computer screen).

I would suggest that anyone who loves movies that they have to see this, and I feel quite ashamed that it took me so long to see this film. I give The Godfather Part 1 a very well deserving 10/10.

R.I.P. Ryan Dunn

Lemmy - The embodyment of rock n' roll

Okay so I know it's been a while since I wrote anything and to be honest I've sat down and wrote like 20 different half entries and then deleted them cause I wasn't feeling it. I've even watched a ton of movies lately its just been sooooo incredibly hard to find the motivation with everything going on in my life. So I figured that I would just force myself to write about one of movies I saw recently; the 2010 documentary Lemmy.

Okay so, the focus of this film is the front man of the pioneering thrash metal band Motorhead; Lemmy Kilmister. Any one who is into metal has a clear picture of Lemmy in their head: long hair, welcoming mutton chops, a giant witchey looking mole on his cheek and a gravely cigarette and booze infused voice. But it wasn't until I saw this film that I really realized how seasoned and epic this dude really is.

So basically this film is about his past as well as his present. Through the old footage of him playing in the 60's through to the 2000's and the plethora of interviews from rock and metals most important figures you see just who this guy, who's old enough to my grandfather, really is. In the 60's he rolled as a guitar tech for freaking Hendrix and toured as was around the biggest acts of the time. Through the 60's Lemmy was in a fairly big band at the time called the Rockin' Vickers who had a few big singles in Europe. In the 70's he joined a popular space rock band called Hawkwind where he developed his bass style of using chords and double stops as apposed to alot of the bass players at the time who would stick to the single note basslines, this style (as well as the insane loudness and the sheer chunkiness of it all) basically became the signature sound of Motorhead. In 1975 tho Lemmy was fired after being arrested at the US-Canada border in Detroit on cocaine charges (that were dropped eventually because it wasn't coke, it was speed).

That year Lemmy met up with a group of meth addicts that he connected with and started the first incarnation of Motorhead. They were of course well known for their song Ace of Spades which has been in like 14,00 different videos games (one of Lemmy's hobbies is gaming). Of course over the years they switched out and fired members and now Lemmy is the only origional member in the band, but he is still rocking like his counterparts in their 20's.  Lemmy is now an aging rocker living in a shitty little LA apartment, living the hard life, and jamming with greats like Metallica and Dave Grohl

He lived his life for rock and roll and all of the party favors that came with it: lsd, weed, meth, JD and his always present Marlboro red's. You would expect that after like 40 years as a rock star constantly drinking and doing drugs would have destroyed his body and his brain like many of the other rock stars who hardly made it out alive.

This film was really really well filmed well researched and well developed. The interviews with some of rocks greats were great and you really got a feel of the amount of respect the music community gives him. I absolutely loved this doc and give it a speed-infused 9-10.