Juggling Mike

Last night I was originally supposed to go see DJXL5’s Smashin’ Zappin’ Party! Unfortunately, due to certain unpredictable circumstances, I decided not to attend. I already regretted missing the show, but now I know that I missed something even more important! All Fantasia fans know of Daniel Walther. He’s always been at Fantasia taking care of the lights and microphones when there are guests. Every time he appears in front, people cheer and call out his name. Sometimes he gets more applause than the guests! That said, yesterday before the DJXL5 show, he got down on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend. He got a stand-up ovation from the crowd and it must have been one hell of an emotional event. To many of you, this may seem insignificant, but I have been coming to the festival for ten years now and I cannot imagine Fantasia without Daniel. Missing his engagement announcement makes me feel like I missed this year’s key event.

That said; Felicitations Daniel!
I wish you and your fiancé the best of luck and love!

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Hello folks! I decided to pop in with a smidgen of ranting before returning to the hunt.

There are two main events each year that steal all my attention away from everything else. The first is E3. As an avid gamer, I am always interested in what the big parties have to offer to the fans. This year felt like Microsoft and Sony were playing catch-up to Nintendo, while Nintendo innovated once more. Don’t get me wrong, Kinect and Move may very well be awesome, but they are attempts to cash into Nintendo’s casual market. I look forward to see what will come out these holidays and if it holds up to their promise.

The second event is about to take place. It is the one, and only, Fantasia Film Festival. As my site’s archives will show, I follow the festival extensively. It will not change this year. While I have been slow in updating my site these last few months, I will try to post as much as I can regarding the festival. The official movie list comes out today and Twitch already has revealed a bunch of the films we can expect. A plethora of great films are about to be digested by our hungry hungry eyeballs to feed our thirsty cerebellums. Expect more details soon, as well as my yearly film list.

In other news, I found out that Mr. Scruff and Bonobo will be playing in town next week for the Jazz festival!!

Now, I must return to the wild house hunt.
We have failed in capturing 5 buildings now.
It is only a matter of time now… I hope.

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Sorry folks, I have not been diligent in my duties lately. I have been really busy lately and I have not had time to document my daily adventures (they are so exciting!). My main occupation lately has been in hunting for a house. Yes, it is house hunting season, and I want to catch me my first real building! Only thing is that this city is infested with hunters which will quickly grab whatever prey you were so close in getting. I have lost 3 bids so far and I am on a fourth. We’ll see if Lady Luck is on my side this time, or if I have to start eying new prey. As you can imagine, once I hunt down my house, I will have to take time to clean and gut it and then invade it for myself. As a result, I may not be extremely chatty in the months to come, but I promise there will be some blogging noise! Coming soon is also Fantasia and you can expect my usual reviews and information as the previous years.

I have not disappeared.. I am simply out on the hunt. I will be back soon!

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It has been a while since my last post. I try to post regularly, but sometimes days pass by way too fast and next thing you know a month has passed since your last entry. For shame Mike.. for shame. I guess I’ll end this stagnation with a summary of my month of October. For starters, I’m house hunting, although that hasn’t kicked into full swing yet. I have also spent a lot of time with Dharti (not enough time, but the house should help fix that). I have been spending some time with friends and vacation plans have been made. I practiced my unicycle and I am finally starting to “get” what it is supposed to feel like. If I can ride it properly by Spring, I may have to invest into a 24 incher. Wow, that can be totally misinterpreted…

Besides that, I have also been playing games. I didn’t touch much of my consoles over the summer, but lately I have been giving them much attention. I bought three games this month, which is a lot more than I would normally buy/play. I started by playing Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune which a friend lent me. Awesome game, but that playtime has been interrupted by the arrival of Brutal Legend.

Brutal Legend is the newest game from Tim Schafer, one of my favourite game designers. I own every one of his games, and have played pretty much all of them at least twice. His days at Lucasarts produced some of the finest adventure games, and his first platformer Psychonauts remains one of my favourite games ever. If you’ve ever played Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Grim Fandango, or Full Throttle.. you have this man to thank. Brutal Legend takes place in the world of metal music. It is a universe imagined based from covers of old heavy metal albums, and a lot of music love went into the game. You play Eddie (voiced by Jack Black) who can slice enemies with his axe, electrocute and burn people with his guitar, or drive through them with his Druid Plow. It is a mix of all sorts of genres such as action, racing, and RTS, and it is all blended well. The humour is excellent and the pacing is well done. My only gripe with the game is that I’m not a huge RTS fan, so a good portion of the game loses some interest over the other sections. Still, overall it is a lot of fun and I recommend it. I am not finished the single player yet, but I hope to get through it soon.

The next game I bought was Borderlands. I originally knew nothing about this game, but when Wal-mart announced that they were selling it at a reduced price, it peaked my interest. I bought it along a couple of friends and we started playing together. I like to think of it as a Fallout 3 - Lite. It is a FPS with RPG elements. It has a very original art style and is quite addictive. The coop play is a lot of fun and well implemented. I keep wanting to play to reach just one more level. If you like shooters and want something different, you should check Borderlands out.

The last game I got was a bit of a guilty pleasure. I had posted about it before and then said I would not buy it, but I caved today and picked it up. I’m talking about DJ Hero. I never bought Rock Band because I would always be playing it alone, and I can’t start banging on the drums in my apartment. I was pretty excited when DJ Hero was announced since it is a relatively quiet game (regarding the instrument) and is mostly solo. Also, it is my kind of music. I love this stuff. I wish they would release a soundtrack, since a lot of the tracks in this game are just simply awesome. My biggest gripe about the game is the price. It costs over a hundred dollars which does not make it easily accessible to everyone. It has a new plastic peripheral, but compared to a plastic guitar, this is the kind of toy I wouldn’t mind having on my living room table. The turntable controller works really well and feels great. I haven’t played too much so far, but from what I’ve seen, I love it. Hearing Queen mashed with Daft Punk is simply (excuse the pun) music to my ears. If I didn’t work tomorrow, I would probably end up pressing plastic buttons and scratching plastic records for a good portion of the night. If you like music games, and you like the sounds DJs produce.. you need this game.

Anyways, I need to get to bed. Till the next post!

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I have recently decided to buy a slackline. I do not have a very good sense of balance, so I figured practicing on the line would help. I don’t have many suitable trees near my place, so I have headed out to Dave’s place since he has a nice park right beside his house. The first time you step on the cord, you are not sure what to expect, and your foot shakes like crazy. After a few tries, you gain confidence and can stand on the line without looking like your foot is having a seizure. After some practice, you can stand on one foot for a few seconds, and eventually, you can walk the line. Currently, I can balance myself on my right foot for close to 30 seconds, and a measly 1-2 seconds n my left foot. I figure a few hours of practice on the left foot and I should be equal with both. Once I get that perfected, I will try to start walking the line. Dave has been practicing with me and he can walk the line from one end to another. I am looking forward to when I can do the same.

I still have to find some suitable trees in my area so that I can practice on my own. Summer is nearing it’s end, and I want to take advantage of it. If you are interested in slacklining, check out Slackline Montreal. The can often be found at Parc Lafontaine, and I bought my gear through them. Support your local slacklining community so that it can grow!

This is me focusing on a point on the tree…

.. and here I am goofing off and falling!

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Last night I went to climb some indoor artificial rocks with my buddy Dave. I had gone this weekend as well, but I hadn’t been there previously for a couple of months. Summer can keep you busy! While I am still not the proper physique to climb naturally, I am getting better. I am realizing the techniques more and more, and I can better visualize how to twist my body to reach the next stone. I’m still not a graceful climber, but I look a lot better than when I started clunking up the walls.

I did four 5.7 climbs last night. It really makes a difference if you are warmed up or not. I did this one climb this weekend and managed to finish it within 3-4 minutes. I figured I would start my climb with that one, but two thirds up, my arms felt like they were going to fall off. The same thing happened with my second climb on another wall. We decided to take a break to do some bouldering, where we switched from endurance to technique. We worked on a V0 which starts you off with an overhang. We can both get to the same point, but we were stuck on getting to the next rock. One of the guys working there showed us how to do it, and while it makes sense, it is not an easy move. You have to stick your left leg all the way to the right and then get real close to the wall and reach up. We tried it, and while it works (I managed to reach a good 2 inches higher), we still couldn’t reach that rock. With practice, we will definitely get it. The rest of the climb after that overhang should be pretty easy.

After working our techniques and killing the muscles in our fingers, we returned for some wall climbing. We each did two walls, both which required a lot of technique to get from one rock to another. They were both a lot of fun, and one was particularly challenging. I had tried it this past weekend and failed halfway, but this time I was determined and got to the top. I had to bend my body in so many unusual positions that I realized how come all the expert climbers have great abs. I really need to lose my gut and get in shape. I’m the “fat” guy at this gym!

I have a three tier plan for the rest of the summer which falls upon three pillars I want to improve: body & flexibility, cardio, and balance. I will get the first part from rock climbing and bouldering. Rock climbing is technique and endurance, while bouldering is technique and strength. Cardio is my weak point, and I really need to start and go running or something. It would also help with my asthma. Finally, balance is something I really need to practice since it is essential to the circus arts I love. I have two exercises for this. The first is the unicycle, and the second is the slackline. I will be getting the slackline this week, and I am looking forward to practicing on it. We’ll see if I can stick to it until winter, where I will have to devise a different plan. One thing I know for sure. If I can rock climb once or twice a week, I should be able to properly climb the 5.8 routes soon enough!

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Last year marked the first year I bought an Apple product. This year is the first time I buy a Sony gaming console. After skipping the Playstation, Playstation 2, and PSP, I have decided to purchase a PS3 Slim. It was never the size that prevented me from buying one; it was the price.

As a gaming machine, I found the Xbox 360 to be overall superior. While each have their pros and cons, it all comes down to the main element: the games. Very little games on the PS3 interested me, and those that did were often available on the Xbox as well. The PS3 was also too expensive (in my opinion) as a bluray player. I’ve seen players drop down to 150$ on sale, which meant dropping a minimum of 400$ for the PS3 was too much. That said, Sony does have some interesting exclusive games on their console, but everybody have their own tastes, and their line-up did not whet my taste buds. Even today, there are only three games that are exclusive to the PS3 that I would like to play.

Anyways, I have been happy so far with my Xbox 360, but with the arrival of the Slim this week at the tempting price of 299$, I caved and brought a Sony into my home. I haven’t had much time to play around with yet, but so far, it is pretty impressive. I purchased the new Batman: Arkham Asylum game to go with it, but after playing with it, I think I would have preferred it on the 360. My problem lies not with the game itself, but with the Playstation controller. I am just not a big fan of the layout. I know, I know, the layout has been used for so many years now, how can it be anything but perfect? Maybe it is great for others, but in my case, I much prefer the 360 controller and its layout. I find the thumbsticks more responsive and the triggers easier to use. That said, the Dualshock controller has better shoulder buttons and a dpad that actually works like it should. Hopefully overtime I will appreciate it more.

There are some benefits of the PS3 over the 360. It has integrated wifi, free online, and of course, the bluray player. I already own the 360 HD-DVD player, but since my Xbox is an older generation, it does not come with a HDMI output. My TV goes up to 1080p, but ONLY with a HDMI cable. The Playstation is the first console in which I can actually use my television to it’s full potential. I’m not a car simulation fan, but Gran Turismo 5 Prologue looks damn nice. I still haven’t tried a Bluray disc yet, but I’m hoping to remedy that this weekend.

While I still love the Xbox 360, I am happy to finally own all competing consoles. I’m a little poorer, but my entertainment system is much more richer.

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We are currently going through a heat wave here in Montreal, and while I detest it when it is too warm, I spent the entire weekend outside. I’m bursting with Vitamin-D, and I felt great!

I spent Saturday chilling with some friends, where we drank Vodka (and Rum and Triple Sec and Jagermeister and beer) and played Bocce. Sunday, I visited the tam tams at Mount Royal. I got to see duct-tape medieval fighting, jugglers, slackliners, hippies galore, and tribal drummers. We played some frisbee and football and then finished the night with an amazing vegetarian supper (thanks again Dave & Lorraine!). I took Monday off so that I could go visit the Botanical Gardens. While it was hot, it was not as sunny as I wanted it to be. My goal was to shoot infrared pictures, and the more sun there is, the better the pictures turn out. Nonetheless, I managed to get a couple of good shots, which I will share in another post.

They are announcing more sun for the rest of the week with high heat and humidity warnings. I will try my best to go outside more often and to finally take advantage of this summer!

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My favourite festival in Montreal will soon be upon us once more for their 2009 edition! Thats right; the Fantasia Film Festival! While we only got a glimpse of the movies to appear at Fantasia, I am already counting the minutes left until the opening day. The website will be fully updated on Friday, as will the guide be sold. This Friday, there will also be an opening party, an event which I will do my best to attend. Afterward begins the intense trailer-watching and list-making in preperation for the month of July. This list gets compared with my friends, adjusted in consequence, and then posted here to entice everybody else to join me. As in the previous years, there will be a link near the top which will point you directly to my list. You can expect a lot more posts this month as the festival plays out.

To whet your appetite, check out this trailer of Robogeisha, one of the zanier films you can expect from Fantasia. This one falls in the crazy gorefest category which does not take itself seriously. Note that there are a lot of serious movies at Fantasia, and not everything is as goofy as this. Still, Fantasia would not be the same without a couple of movies of this genre. If you’ve seen Machine Girl or Tokyo Gore Police, you know what to expect!

UPDATE: I just realized that Robogeisha is NOT on the press release list that Fantasia sent out. Turns out it is getting released in Japan in 2010. We’ll find out Friday if it will actually be screened at the Festival or not. (Somehow, I doubt it) Nonetheless, it feels a lot like other movies I have seen at Fantasia, and the Geisha Transform makes me laugh every time I see it. Fried Shrimp!

Only 10800 minutes left…

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The Cirque du Soleil celebrated their 25th anniversary on Tuesday. The founder of Cirque, Guy Laliberté, is now worth around 2 buillion dollars, so I dare say the last 25 years have been good to him. He`ll be the first Canadian tourist to visit space in September 2009; something that he can probably easily afford. While he’ll be soaring high over our heads, we’ll continue in letting ourselves getting immersed in the world he’s created. I recently talked avbout their newest show “Ovo”, but I also recently saw “KÀ” and “O” in Las Vegas, so I will give a brief review on each of those as well.

Las Vegas is host to six shows by the Cirque du Soleil. While I would have loved to have seen all of them, they are quite expensive, so we settled on two. The first we saw was “O”, which is done inside, around, and over a huge pool. The name “O” is a play on words since it sounds like “eau”, which is French for water. The show has a very distinct Victorian style to it, but with a perhaps more macabre tone. The pool itself was very impressive since the floor would rise (you couldn`t notice it as it caused no ripples in the water as it rose and descended) and suddenly you had people running on top of the water. The show overall felt less like a circus show (at least compared to Kooza and Ovo) and more like a variety show. While this normally would have been a disappointment, the show in itself was amazing and the stage was incredible. It really makes a difference when your show is permanently located at one place and a stage is built accordingly. There is no way “O” could travel to other cities. It is glued to Las Vegas, and as such, I highly recommend that if you visit the city, that you go see this show. It is not your typical circus show, and it is guaranteed to impress!

The other show we saw was “KÀ”. The setting this time was feudal Asia, and while there is no water, this is another show that benefits from having its own stage. Using the largest hydraulics I have ever seen, the stage rises from below, can rotate 360 degrees horizontally and incline up to 90 degrees vertically. The stage also has light receptors in which it can show certain visual effects depending where the actors are. This was used really well in a certain scene in which the stage is raised fully vertically, and then actors would shoot fake arrows from the aisles. Whenever an arrow “hit”, a physical spike would come out of the stage, and the stage would react accordingly making it look like a cloud of dust just appeared. It really looked like an arrow had been shot at the stage. In this scene, one character was trying to escape the enemy and he would climb the arrows in the wall. They were not attached and if they fell, they would really fall off the stage into the void below (where I presume was set up with mats for their safety). There were also other stages used that could move back and forth around the stage area. The stage area was huge and technically, this show was amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it. Content-wise, it feels a lot more like a theatrical play than a circus show, and it has a lot deeper story than any other show. Personally, I was hoping for some more martial arts, but overall I greatly enjoyed it. Dharti left disappointed, but we had just been spoiled by Ovo and “O”, that she was expecting something along the same vein. KÀ is another show which I heartily recommend if you are visiting Las Vegas.

If you only have time (or money) for one show, I would say go see “O”, but you can`t go wrong with either. Just don`t expect your typical circus show and let your imagination enjoy the ride.

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