Sometimes the Winnipeg Free Press really does know what actually matters to Manitobans

Headlines on this article from Canadian media sources.

CTV headline: Dominion City hotel burns down on Christmas Day

too bad so sad :( on Christmas even!

CBC headline: Fire destroys landmark Dominion City hotel

It was a landmark! it marked the land!! How will we mark our land now?!?

Global: Fire destroys historic hotel

historic! A part of history is lost forever! we're doomed to repeat it now!

Winnipeg Free Press headline: Town's beer vendor burns up

OH GOD NO!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! WHY! WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY!!!!!

TAKE ME INSTEAD!! NOOOOO!!!

Winnipeg Free Press. Clearly has the pulse of Manitobans understood completely.

either that, or this is their last remaining subscriber:

burrrrp.

Inferring things from statistics

I just learned that 70% of professional NBA Basketball players have tattoos, as compared to 4% of the population of the USA. Using "science", this means that tattoos clearly provide improved basketball playing abilities.

RoJustiner BEbert

From Roger Eberts twitter: "Scott Pilgrim" renting at $1.99 on demand. Several dozen readers angry I didn't see it before making my Best 10 list.

I'd put the number much higher than several dozen. What does Roger Ebert have against this movie? We know he ranted about video games not being art, then ignored a movie (his area of expertise) based on a comicbook heavy on videogame imagery, references, and inspiration. I'm sure he's been getting tons of emails asking him to see this movie. He made an ass of himself IMHO, and this movie is one that speaks to that, and he's ignoring it to his own detriment. I've lost a lot of respect for Mister Ebert this year. I'm not saying it was a brilliant movie or it deserves to be in his top ten, but if he is making top ten lists, he should be damn sure he's at least being inclusive of movies that are otherwise well received but might not speak to his sensibilities.

He was taking time off to write his book. Well, I say no-one should buy his book until he does face the music and review Scott Pilgrim.

Also, why was Justin Bieber shopping in Canada on Boxing Day? The kid has like 40 million dollars. This was clearly a publicity stunt. "Tee Hee, oops, its me, Justin Bieber shopping on the busiest shopping day in Canada look at me.. hee hee hee.. I'm running away from my idiot teenage girl fans OMG why didn't I attempt to disguise myself in any way?"

Boxing Day

Man, Boxing Day sure seems to suck this year.

Hopefully MMA Day has some better deals.

Congratulations to Global TV Digital Channel 9.1 ,and 40.1

If you have an ATSC capable HDTV (most of them) or digital cable converter (I saw some on sale at superstore in the discount bin the other day on Regent) you will now be able to pick up one digital channel over the air, as the other day Global Winnipeg officially became the first channel to broadcast OVER THE AIR in HDTV. I've got my HDTV (and a digital converter for a small tv) working perfectly connected to an antenna. You probably only need regular bunny ears to get a decent signal.

There is a note in the channel data that states "CKND-DT in Winnipeg, Manitoba is transmitting a new DTV channel on UHF 40, Frequency 626-632 Mhz. Call 204-233-3304 to report any interference problems. So, there you have it. I have no problems, but there we go.

Of course, none of the other Winnipeg stations seems to show the same level of commitment to getting a digital signal up in Winnipeg. CBC appears to be the worst of the lot, with no official plans for a digital signal until 2012. Which again, is shameful. Hopefully Bell's purchase of CTV means they will put up a signal sooner than later. Though Rogers hasn't really been particularly gung-ho either. I'd give credit to Shaw for the work done, but Global had an aggressive goal to switch even before Shaw purchased them. So again, kudos to the engineers and everyone involved at Global Winnipeg aka CKND TV for a job well done.

Really, its quite awesome to have a pair of rabbit ears connected to your widescreen TV and getting a clear HDTV picture after scanning for new channels. I look forward to the day when every channel in Winnipeg has a digital signal. I don't watch much TV, but it'll be nice to see the resurgence in roof antennas over the next few years.

Maybe global could take pity on CBC and feed their digital signal on a standard definition digital subchannel.

Also, if you get cable TV, you can get the Global Winnipeg HD channel that way too. Don't know if its unencrypted QAM, but surely if you have a box you'll get it. Granted at this exact moment, they're airing a Ben Affleck movie called Surviving Christmas in Standard Pan and Scan 4:3, but that movie most likely doesn't deserve any better, so good call Global.

** minor update.. I'm seeing minor sound dropoffs, but I'm guessing they're still working on that. **

Time Magazine

Time magazine awarded its person of the year award to the creator of Facebook. Time magazine has an online poll that asks people who they would vote for, then completely ignores it. Chilean miners, Julian Asange, Lady Gaga & countless others all got more votes than Mark Zuckerberg. Why do they even do an online poll if they decided well in advance which non-entity to put on their cover? Pathetic. It's odd, I might have picked up an issue if they had gone with Assange, but I hate Facebook and all it stands for, so screw that. I actually can't believe I once had a subscription to that magazine. Mark Zuckerberg. Shameful.

Notion Ink Adam

I've been waiting for a google android tablet with the perfect specs for a while now, and it seems the Notion Ink Adam is going to be the first one at the plate. It's not perfect, nothing ever is, but its clearly better than an apple ipad in terms of features. But what most attracts me to the Adam is the overall exuberance of the Notion Ink team. They've been building this thing for a long time now and they're so close to not being vaporware, you just want to support them with their unbounding optimism. Plus its the first tablet which comes with Pixel Qi technology. The power saving features of E-Ink in an LCD screen. Plus its no cheap 7 inch tablet. It's 10 inches. And the camera swivels to the back or front so if you're not using skype, you can flip it out of the way.. The top of the line version is around $650.. which is actually really good all things considering it comes with. I'll probably get that version with the 3G built in. I hope they get good distribution in North America and don't run into too many supply problems. It's nice to see a company build something genuinely out of the desire to make something useful, not a locked down technology made to sucker the gullible.

Bodies, the yechhhsebition

So Bodies the Exhibition will be over pretty soon, according to ads plastinated .. err.. plastered around Winnipeg. Frankly, I find looking at the innards of the human body makes me queasy, and I wish True North Entertainment had not brought it here and I'll be happy to see it gone. I can't be the only one. I hate gore. I don't mind if its an animal but seeing people really brings it home to me. It's unfortunately why I could never work in Medicine. I will turn the channel if I see ER or some medical documentary. I wonder if theres a term for what I have. Anyways, on top of that theres the fact that the bodies are more than likely Chinese dissidents put in the pose of playing football or something. Imagine if you were put to death for being a member of the conservative party for example, and then your body was plastinated and given to the Chinese and put in, I dunno, a ping pong playing pose for the rest of eternity. I find it pretty disrespectful to be honest. Nevermind that afterwards I'd be spooked to see any future exhibitions there. Not that I believe the place would be haunted or anything, but just the idea that there were dead bodies on exhibit for like what, three quarters of a year? yechh.

Hey remember those F-35's the Conservatives want to spend 9 Billion on?

Apparently, someone looking into wikileaks recent leak has discovered American diplomats have been working to push other countries into buying these planes. In this instance, Norway. By using the excuse of conformity between NATO members to standardize on the American built plane. The article doesn't mention Canada at all, but its not difficult to put two and two together.

Of course, the Liberals wanted to open bidding to competing planes. I'm not a fan of the Liberals but they did manage at least to keep us out of Iraq and pay down the debt which the Conservatives are showing so far incapable of, so I'll give them that. But I do believe if we're buying planes, we should be buying the best plane out there for the best price possible, not merely (and probably quickly) caving in to salesmanship of American interests. That's just pathetic.

And people out there are complaining that theres nothing useful in these latest wikileaks. Not useful to the government, perhaps.

Feelin nostalgic this Sunday

I always liked Wonderstruck, but Bob McDonald definitely has a face made more for radio.





It wasn't the same once Casey and Finnegan died.



I would totally buy a best of the friendly giant DVD collection. I'd probably even pay exorbitant CBC store online prices.



Once they got rid of Ken, the show went downhill quickly.

The downtown Zellers is now open

If you didn't know, the downtown Zellers has opened in the Bay downtown basement. Looks shiny brand new. Also the Bay downtown and Zellers are open until 9pm, so that's nice if you're stuck downtown late and want to do some shopping. Not that they had any good deals or anything. Zellers always seems to be missing anything I might want for some reason, but they do appear to have an expanded selection compared to what the supermarket had before.. though the layout and exits are a bit confusing, hopefully they'll fix that with signage. Hopefully they renovate the Bay as well so that it only takes 2 floors cause really, they didn't need all that space and who really wanted to walk around that much? I'm a fan of efficiency. They must have just opened the Zellers though, as it looked really dead inside. Hopefully business picks up once people know it's there. I'm not the biggest fan of Zellers but I appreciate them putting a location downtown. I at least find it convenient. I guess in a way it will replace the one that closed down on Henderson Highway for me.