'Cause that's where I'm pretty sure I spent my evening.

Way back when, I used to mix up Our Lady Peace and I Mother Earth all the time. I felt justified by an episode of Speakers Corner which I still remember clearly, where this guy pointed out that they are effectively the same band. As he said, "I, first person singular. Our, first person plural possessive. Lady, Mother, they're both women. Peace. On. Earth. Same band."

Well, it turns out this is no longer an issue, since Mike Turner, formerly (I believe?) of OLP and Edwin, formerly of IME, are now in a band together, along with a guy from The Tea Party, some dude from a band called Zygote I've never heard of, and some other random who wasn't even coole nough to get a name. They are called Crash Karma, and really... not so good. Well, mostly Edwin just can't sing and is way too old for this crap. Which is tragic, because he used to be pretty.

They opened for Stone Temple Pilots tonight, and at first I thought "heh, that guy looks like an older version of Edwin." Then I realized it actually was and giggled.

But I will give them credit, they know people don't REALLY give a shit. They mostly played their own stuff, but their current single was third last. The last song they played? One More Astronaut. One guy in front of me was basically losing his shit playing air guitar and air drums the whole time. These three bros up near the front kept high-fiving each other like they'd done something awesome. It was basically made of win.

Then STP came on, and jeeeez. They are still pretty awesome live. They definitely have the stage set-up for a WAY bigger venue, but that made it so much cooler seeing them at the Kool Haus. I did not enjoy having so many tall people around me, though, wtf. The girl next to me, who was TINY, didn't seem to give a crap. She was way into it even though there's NO way she saw anything.

So yeah. Pretty awesome, definitely felt like the 90s.

And now I may or may not be listening to Adam Lambert's album. Oh man. That's all I have to say.

These boys are killing me. They sat down for their first interview without Stephen on Saturday with Sky News and it was posted on the site yesterday (Here, if you care, not that I expect anyone to sit and watch that for 41 minutes and 38 seconds. If it all even loads, because it keeps crapping out for me at 28:04 when Ronan says they've only ever sat down with 3 or 5 of them until now because if you do 4 it feels like someone's missing). I want to give all of them such a big hug, because as much as I could've lived without knowing Stephen's feelings toward Ronan's "straw balls," they all look so tired and more than once one of them almost cries. Ronan looks like he's about to lose it when Keith starts talking about how they all tried to protect Stephen (and... really? Adorable as that is, he was a grown-ass man. Come on now boys), one of them keeps sniffling every time Mikey talks, and friggin' Shane has to go prove he has a heart by actually tearing up. Yes, the "tuff" one, who once swore as loudly and deliberately as he possibly could on live television and punched Puff Daddy in the face (on the same night, no less) nearly falls apart. I can't even remember what the question was but he couldn't get past "Stephen was one of my best, best friends, who I always confided in." And then he stops. And his eyes well up. And Mikey puts his arm around him and says "You're doing good." And then I lose it.

For like the third time, because Keith talking about Ronan calling him to tell him the news, and saying he shouted something but can't remember what and Ronan's all, "You were yelling 'what are you saying, what are you saying?'" and when Ronan says "Why are we here? Stephen's not supposed to be gone. This isn't supposed to be our story" also get me in the worst way.

And then they talk about the new album and how Stephen sang on two tracks before he died, so they have that and they're going to finish the album for him. But as Ronan says, they want to do it as soon as possible because they all have their own things they need to go and do... which sounds an awful lot like what he said in 2000 that roughly translated to "goin solo, bbl!!!!111oneone" So, that's kind of telling.

Seriously, these boys are going to kill me.

(It's not without its win though, what with them making up words every five minutes, like "devastational," "safity" (pronounced "safe-uh-tee" and used to describe what I can only assume is some sort of unit of safety measurement), and "soul-heartedly.")

Now I'm going to write a page response to a novel about an alcoholic abused housewife. My night is filled with such joy.

In parting, a prediction: in about 9 months to maybe 2 years, there will be a new baby in the Boyzone world. I'm predicting it will be Shane's, just because, and if it's a boy it will be named Stephen. Just sayin'.

Two things:

1) Someone come see Swell Season with me on Tuesday? Raven can't and I have an extra ticket and want to go so bad.

2) Meme stolen from Raven, some of the numbers I totally kept the same because why not?):

1) Post a list of up to 20 books/movies/anime/TV shows/video games/bands [fannish etc.] that you've had an obsessive fannish love or interest in at some time in your life.
2) Have your f-list guess your favorite character/member from each item.
3) When someone guesses correctly, strike through the item and put the name of your favorite character next to it.

( Let the nerdiness begin... )

Because that's how I would describe the posting on boyzone.net this morning. It's the other guys' eulogy to Stephen at his funeral yesterday morning.

( tl;dr )

All together now... Aww!!

And then friggin' this where there's a video of Ronan (well audio, the video was shot outside the church) reading part of it and he friggin breaks down by the end and it's so sad. :(

I really need to watch Empire Records. Just... as a general state of being. "How are you today?" "In need of watching Empire Records." I should buy that movie.

Anyway, today was not the best day. First Jess called in sick, and I couldn't get hold of anyone else who was actually free until 11 when Chris finally answered. Not that I blame him or Cat for not answering. I totally also wouldn't be awake at 9:30 on my day off. So Chris got in at about 12:20 and stayed til Cat came at 4. But before Chris got there, the mall almost burned down.

There was, as the mysterious voice over the PA put it later (significantly later given the ALMOST FIRE IN THE MALL THEY DECIDED NOT TO TELL ANYONE ABOUT), an "electrical event" in the mall. By which I mean electrical fire at one of (yes, ONE of) the salons. (There are three, if you count MagiCuts in Zellers. Then there's a nail salon as well. Old people must love getting their hair did). The fire department showed up. The mall got pretty smokey for a while and I was surprised they didn't evacuate once breathing it in started hurting my chest a little. I should've closed up and been like "fuck you guys, I'm getting some air." But no, no evacuation. No fire or smoke alarms either, even though they definitely tested them like two weeks ago. You know how I know? Because they do it during mall hours and it is really fucking annoying.

So that was my morning.

I also randomly got Bouncing Off The Walls stuck in my head, so now I'm listening to Sugarcult. I miss them.

So The Gaslight Anthem are basically made of win, still.

-every band should have Girls Just Wanna Have Fun as their entrance music. For all time. It should just be a thing.
-I'm not entirely convinced that the bassist doesn't like boys, but I'd still hit that.
-Brian continues to be adorable
-apparently under Bush, the US was like the week and Canada was the weekend. Under Obama, the US is more like Friday night but Canada is still an awesome Saturday night. Analogies are fun.
-obnoxious couples FTL. First there was this older (the standard being the rest of the audience. They were at least 40) blathering on and on about "ZOMG SO FUN AND WE WILL DANCE AND I'M JUST WAITING FOR HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU KID." They were very annoying. I've never wanted a band NOT to play one of my favourite songs so badly. But they did play it, and it made me happy. Then there was the make-out couple with no respect for other people's personal space, but God forbid anyone got in theirs. The girl had to literally hold her boyfriend back from beating down some guy who bumped into him on his way out of the 'pit.' Oh and they were totally their with his dad. I lol'd.
-they don't believe in the 'single' rule. Well, they played their two 'big' singles, but.. very early. The '59 Sound, which according to the single rule, should be the last song of the encore, came twenty minutes in. And Great Expectations, the second single and only other logical option for the final song, came about 20 minutes after that.
-ILU, TGA.

The end.

In other news I am seriously like ridiculously sad about Stephen Gately. (For those not following Irish pop stars who never made it big in North America, he's a member of Boyzone and he passed away on Saturday. He was 33) It's incredibly depressing, for one thing, when anyone that young dies unexpectedly... but he was another of my teenage crushes (even after he came out. Whatev, dude was adorable). Him + Heath Ledger = 14 year old me is running out of idols. But what's really sad to think about is that his husband is the one who found him. I mean how hard would that be to wake up one morning (or... early afternoon, according to reports) and find your husband dead, and to boot you're completely alone in a foreign country? Poor guy. They were so cute together too.

So you know how everyone is overreacting about swine flu and now even more than other years it's all "IF YOU DON'T GET THE FLU SHOT YOU WILL DIE."?

I was, for some odd reason, under the impression that flu shots were free, because they actually WANT people to get them. Especially now with swine flu H1N1, for which they have no empirical evidence that it IS more harmful than the regular flu and which has not killed anywhere near the number of people killed by the flu annually (not that any of that is the point, of course) that they were pushing it even harder, going so far as to make this new H1N1 vaccine mandatory in some workplaces, or whatever.

Well apparently I was wrong, because while watching Flash Forward on ABC tonight (which is, btw, being moved to Thursday nights, because there are not NEARLY enough shows I watch on Thursdays. At least it's on at 8 and not 9, FRINGE AND SUPERNATURAL. And Grey's, which for some reason my mom still watches), I saw a commercial for flu shots at Walgreens. For a price.

I've never even heard of a pneumonia vaccine. I've also never actually had pneomonia, so I think I'd be happier WITH the $50.

In other totally unrelated news, I want to do something on Halloween so I want to make plans now, given that it's October 9. I want to go out, probably to the Phoenix, because that's what we always do, but anywhere is good. Costumes preferable only because I totally have an idea and it's not hard which means I'll actually put the effort into getting it together. And it's been a long time since I feel like I really went out properly...

...you know, not counting like a month ago with Angie. Or Wednesday night, but that was a show so it doesn't count, like the two pitchers of beer Cat and I split don't count and neither do the three times I threw up (never the same toilet, btw, and once was at work) on Thursday morning. Beer is not my friend.

So, uh, this? http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/colleagues-grapple-with-suicide-of-troubled-but-popular-teacher/article1311728/

Here's some interesting things.
1) My dad taught at Jarvis Collegiate for 25 years. He didn't know this guy, as he moved to ECI in about 2001 or 2002.
2) I didn't make the connection at first, but Carlos was late for work Saturday morning because of a delay on the subway. He had to take a shuttle from Keele. Which is right before High Park. Which is where this happened.

Creeeeeeeeeeeeepy.

No, this isn't about some amazing hybrid animals.

But, I learned today via it coming in to my store that this is a thing:
http://www.amazon.ca/Twilight-Philosophy-Vampires-Vegetarians-Immortality/dp/0470484233/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254365359&sr=1-1

I'm pretty sure it should come with a disclaimer that putting THAT MUCH THOUGHT into Twilight is seriously hazardous to your health and has been known to cause aneurysms, total frontal lobe failure, and in extreme cases, brain matter leaking from the ears.

Although I would like to read the part that supposedly answers the question "Is Edward a romantic hero or a dangerous stalker?" I think we all know the answer to that one, Mr. I'M GOING TO WATCH BELLA SLEEP LIKE A MOTHERFUCKING CREEPER.

In other news, this is also a thing, and I will reserve judgment on whether or not it should exist. For those playing along at home, it's a 6th Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book, only... not written by Douglas Adams on account of he's been dead for eight years. It's written by a guy who's name is apparently pronounced Owen, and who is Irish, because the Irish are weird like that and that is the third different spelling of Owen I've seen (the other two being the standard Owen, and Eoghan.

So, who remembers this EPIC win?

(WARNING: Do not look directly at the amazing metallic suits)

Well. Take a close look at two of the members of this band:

(They do have actual music videos, I just love that song)

I think I have a crush on Danny O'Donahue all over again.

Just got home from Kings of Leon in Hamilton. A few things:

Dear Glasvegas drummer,
You are the reason people think chicks can't play drums. Get a real fucking set and learn to play right.

Dear Glasvegas bassist,
Let's get married, live in a castle in Scotland and have lots of little Scottish babies.

Dear Glasvegas lead singer/guitarist,
You look a little like Joe Strummer. This makes me giggle.

Dear Non-descript Glasvegas guitarist,
Keep on keepin' on.

After their set, WHICH WAS AWESOME AND I LOVE GLASVEGAS EVEN IF THEIR DRUMMER SUCKS AND INFURIATES ME, I waited in the longest bathroom line I have ever stood in my entire life. Just as I got to the door of the unnecessarily tiny bathroom (four stalls? REALLY?), this guy comes up with his girlfriend and is all, "So have you met my friend Claire?" and holds out his hand with a folded $20 in it. I was like "Hell yes" and totally let her cut. Best $20 I ever made.

I fully intended to spend it on a Glasvegas shirt but they had no merch. And as much as I was all about a Kings of Leon shirt with either a chicken on it for no reason, or a pirate ship for possibly even less reason, I just couldn't bring myself to shell out $35 (chicken) or $40 (pirate ship) for a t-shirt. Lame.

Then I watched Kings of Leon and they are awesome. Caleb's faux-gratitude/pandering to the crowd got a little stale, but he's just so adorable doing it. They played three of my favourite songs almost right off the bat, and I was all "WELL AWESOME NOW WHAT." But they totally did Knocked Up in the encore, which was amaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing and I love that song. And Cold Desert right before the encore which was pretty win. The second song of the encore was Use Somebody, and since they'd done Sex On Fire about halfway through and even Notion (<33333) somewhere in there, I thought that was it. But then Caleb was all "I know we've already played our two hits, so I see a lot of you leaving... but this is for the rest of you!" and played one more, which I forget what it was because I'm awesome like that, and it was pretty kickass.

Now I'm at home, not at Catherine's birthday and feeling terribly guilty about that but my throat hurts and I haven't been able to kick this cold so I thought it best to take it easy.

So today I encountered the two most oblivious people in the universe.

The first was a girl whose boyfriend was teasing her because she didn't know who someone was. So she said, "Fine, I'll ask someone else." He laughed and told her that would be even more embarrasing. So she asked me. The person in question? Kurt Cobain. I mean I guess I can see how someone wouldn't know, but I couldn't help but ask "...seriously?"

Then, just before close, another couple was in the store. The guy walked over to the Michael Jackson display and said "Who's this... Mik... Mikail... Mikail Jackson?" I thought he was joking, because really? Then he kept asking his girlfriend questions about what kind of artist he was, what kind of music he did, etc. He was not kidding. He had NO. IDEA.

How is that even possible?

Chris and I simultaneously *headdesked* when they left.

So I finally saw the premiere of Glee tonight.

Okay, okay, it's kind of awesome. I will totally watch that show.

Damn you, television. Because what I need is another show to watch.

In other news, I've decided I'm coming down with swine flu. My dad has been really sick and my mom, who never overreacts to ANYTHING EVER, totally decided it was swine flu. Now I'm irrationally tired and probably getting sick, so clearly it's also that.

And now, thanks to jibboom, I have decided this movie needs to come out in wide release since TIFF hates me anyway. Matthew Goode kisses boys. And Raven? Ridge is in it.

BEDlight for BlueEYES - Jumper

And it only actually has 112 plays. That's the song that, even though it's a cover, got me into BEDlight in the first place. It was always one of my favourite Third Eye Blind songs, and it's a great cover. There's something about Christian's voice on the line "you're a flash of light on a burial shroud" that gives me chills and made me want to listen to them.

So I did, then Christian got kicked out for being a douche, they got a new singer who sounded like him anyway, made an AMAAAAAAAAAAZING album... and then broke up.

LAME.

After that song is the entire "Decemberunderground" album by AFI, almost in order, at 93 plays - except Affliction, which for some reason has 94 and is above the rest.

Interesting.

Because I am a nerd like this:

There's a show in the UK called Ghosthunting, which I only know exists because Boyzone were on it recently, but it's kind of awesome. They take celebrities to haunted locations in the UK and have them investigate while a psychologist watches in a car and analyzes their reactions.

( Cut because no one cares and I am weird. )

I totally attempted to get a ticket to see Ronan in Glasgow when the presale started at ass o'clock this morning (9AM UK time; 4AM here) but the site wasn't working and I gave up and went back to bed. I'm over actually going to see him, but not entirely over the reading week in the UK thing. Dammit. Saving is hard.

So you know how I'm insane/totally miss Dublin/Ireland in general/etc?

Ronan Keating is doing a solo tour that happens to start the Friday of my February reading week. Except it's in Scotland.

5ish days in Dublin + weekend in Glasgow, y/y?

Talk me out of this.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaant.

But I don't know where I'd put it.

I do need to clean/reorganize/reduce the amount of crap in my room though. And make room for a completely ridiculous purchase?

Also how is it that fucking WAL MART doesn't allow online shopping? MOAR LIKE FAILMART AMIRITE.

So much fail in my mall/store today.

1. Guy picks up a used copy of Beck's "Odelay" album.
Guy: "Who is this?"
Co-worker, Chris: *blank stare* "Beck."
Guy: "Some kid Beck?"
Chris: "Uh... I guess?"
Guy: "No relation to Jeff Beck?"
Chris: "No."
Guy: "It makes me really angry that he would use the name Beck."

*facepalm* Beck Hansen is his real, legal name. Why would he not use Beck as his stage name? GTFO, moron.

2. Our regular customer, Linda, who is creepily nice/friendly/talkative came in. She said I look 'nice.' She said Carlos has put on weight, but it suits him. Then told him to marry his girlfriend. Which... alright then. Not as creepy as the time she started asking Jessica about her sex life and then talking about her own, or lack thereof.
But as we were leaving tonight, we hear someone yelling down by Metro. Now, the mall closes at 6 on Saturdays, but Metro is open 24 hours. But they close their door that leads into the mall when the mall closes so creepers can't roam the mall at all hours of the night.
Keep in mind, this is like 6:15. It's not barely 6:00 and people are questioning whether the doors should be closed. It's CLEARLY after 6.
Linda is standing at the door to Metro SCREAMING at the person inside because they won't let her in there and told her to go around. You know, like everyone else in the world has to after mall closing.
In her yelling she totally called the person Sweetheart, which was amazing.
She yells that if the store is open 24 hours, she should be able to get in. Which... you would think, but the mall isn't, and why would they keep the door to the mall open? That's just asking for trouble.
So then Linda starts screaming about how she's on antiobiotics and can't go out in the rain and snow.

*facepalm* Now, it had started raining, sure. But... it's AUGUST. There is no snow, and it wasn't raining that hard. Plus, what antibiotics actually list that in the warnings? "Avoid iinclement weather. You might melt."

3. Facepalm of the Day award:
Lady walks into store, points to display at the front of the store and several posters hanging around advertising '09.09.09'.
Lady: "Does that band have a new album coming out on September 9?"
Now, "That Band" is the Beatles. Their entire catalogue is being remastered and released on September 9, but no, The Beatles -THE BEATLES- do not have a new album coming out.
I mean, of course. You know, it took a while to get John to agree to it and I hear George wouldn't answer his phone, but yes, The Beatles have a brand new album coming out in just over two weeks.

Fail mall has failed.

This is what happens when I'm bored and play on Youtube.



From 3:10:

Stephen: *slaps Shane, starts talking about cheesey videos or something*
Keith: "That was a homosexual slap."
Stephen: *slaps Keith (on the thigh, btw)*
Keith: "That was a homosexual slap."
Stephen: *says something all Irish-like about doing an interview on his own because they're mean*
Keith: "Stephen, you're playing that gay card again."
Stephen: "What?"
Keith: "That we're all bullying you because you're gay."
Stephen: "You always bully me."
Keith: "Okay, but it's not the fact that you're gay, it's because you're smaller than us."

I love them.

/insanity

Okay, so, last August, this happened.

Like the bitch I am, I never called him. In my defence I went out the day I said I would call and fully intended to when I got home, then fell asleep til 10:30 that night. Then I just never got around to it. Plus I was largely hung up on Thom. Which was such epic fail in retrospect.

Well he came in again yesterday. I did my best to avoid him because it still felt super awkward even though it's been like a year. Oops.