Steven Joniak – the Blog

1) So THE day is here, July 11th and the iPhone is officially available in Canada – too bad Robbers, er Rogers is the one company that can support it. Seriously, Canada has the MOST expensive and LEAST feature full plans IN THE WORLD! So until that changes and some form of sanity sinks in, I’ll stick with my already expensive Treo plan with Bell. The Toronto Star has a great summary of Pros & Cons here.

2) CBC.ca had this headline for a top story today:

2 of 5 feet found on B.C. coast belong to same man: RCMP [link]

Now is it me, or does it sound funny to claim the 2 of 5 belong to the same man – I mean the real story would be if ALL 5 belonged to 1 man, don’t you think?

3) What?! CNN.com has a lead story on CANADA?! Specifically about the Alberta Oil Sands [link]

4) Ah yes, now that’s more like it CNN – completely unbiased, riveting and true American-no-nonsense reporting – ‘Are You Black Enough?’ … God bless America – dayum!

5) HOW CAN AMERICANS PASS THIS LAW SO EASILY?! Even Obama caved and supported it (but Hilary didn’t!) [Obama link] , [Bush passes law, ACLU sues link]

So you say ‘I’m Canadian, why do I care?’ – simple, look at how the US influenced the recent changes of our own Copyright laws to be much in line with the pro-Corporation/screw-Consumer rhetoric of their DMCA policy – its only a matter of time when Harper and gang hop along the US express to invade ALL aspects of our lives ‘for the good of the justice & liberty’.

Doesn’t it look like 2008 is looking so like Orwell’s 1984?

6) HELLBOY – HELL YA! [Review link] This summer is packed with so many good movies, and so far Iron Man and Wanted have NOT disappointed me at all! The trailer is below:

I don’t know what’s going on lately but I’ve been having almost daily star sightings around the city.

First I see what looked like Gene Simmons and his daughter driving a red Ferrari convertible through Yorkville over the weekend while I was standing in line to grab a Starbucks Iced Chai (love those – perfect summer drink!) – though mind you, my glasses were off at the time so I could be mistaken, but Gene is pretty distinctive.

Then I’m walking along Dundas West and I see the whole crew from Colin and Justin’s Home Heist over in Cornerstone – an amazing antique and furniture sourcing store. I missed the duo as they were leaving just as I was walking up the street but bumped into the crew who were still filming in the store – Cheryl, the show’s ‘get-it-done’ designer looks even better in person – but everyone looked busy doing their thing and didn’t want to interrupt, so I just had a look around the store (so much cool stuff! Wish I had the budget for some of the pieces there).

Is it all dumb luck or a sign of things to come?

Best. Battle. Ever.

Got caught and was an experience all around … more to update later tonight…

I love all that is good in design and fresh ideas and the BMW GINA Light Visionary Model [view full site] is a fully functional, shape-shifting car with a fabric shell – an experimental concept to allow their R&D team to stretch their creative muscles in both form and function. This car is not meant to go on sale any time soon, but who knows what ideas gleaned may lead down the road – if anything its amazing how smooth and beautiful the fabric forms around the chassis – breathtaking!

… much to everyone’s surprise, I’m not getting one. Oh don’t get me wrong, the new 3G & GPS features and allowance of 3rd party apps and all the other multi-touch, calling, music and video features are just what I want (except the chincy 2 megapixel camera, WHY so cheap Apple? c’mon?!). And with the prices slashed down to $199 for a 8GB and $299 for a 16GB – its a steal!

So what’s stopping me planning an all-night vigil at the nearest Apple Store to buy one in July?

Rogers.

I fucking despise all that the greedy, customer-hating, Skydome name-changing ego-maniac of a company stands for. They’ve been acknowledged to purposely gouge their customers, offer incredibly poor customer service and disrespect on every call. THEY are the DEVIL!

And yes, I hate Rogers THAT MUCH that I refuse to buy a phone from them as I’m sure their phone plans will be set to gouge hundreds of dollars a month from their customers – which in turn begs me to ask – WHY are so many people using them?!

Bell has been my bitch for years and they got my back since the ’90s. They’ve been good to me, so I have no reason to switch. NOT even for Apple … and THAT says ALOT.

Seriously, HERE is the Sheryl Crow song, Out Of Our Heads that is apparently causing much stir on radio stations afraid to play it claiming its too political and controversial – ARE THEY SERIOUS (or SIRIUS?) The message is a positive one just asking people to basically think with your heart, and not your head and stand up to the fear running rampant in the world – essentially a choose peace over war theme song, so WHAT is wrong with that?! Here’s the video and lyrics below:

Out Of Our Heads

Lyrics: Bottrell/Crow Music: Bottrell

If you feel you wanna fight me
There’s a chain around your mind
When something is holding you tightly
What is real is so hard to find

Losing babies to genocide
Oh where’s the meaning in that plight
Can’t you see that we’ve really bought into
Every word they proclaimed and every lie, oh

If we could only get out of our heads, out of our heads
And into our hearts
If we could only get out of our heads, out of our heads
And into our hearts

Someone’s feeding on your anger
Someone’s been whispering in your ear
You’ve seen his face before
You’ve been played before
These aren’t the words you need to hear

Through the dawn of darkness blindly
You have blood upon your hands
All the world will treat you kindly
But only the heart can understand, oh understand

If we could only get out of our heads, out of our heads
And into our hearts
Children of Abraham lay down your fears, swallow your
tears and look to your heart

If we could only get out of our heads, out of our heads
And into our hearts
Children of Abraham lay down your fears, swallow your
tears and look to your heart

Every man is his own prophet
Oh every prophet just a man
I say all the women stand up, say yes to themselves
Teach your children best you can

Let every man bow to the best in himself
We’re not killing any more
We’re the wisest ones, everybody listen
‘Cause you can’t fight this feeling any more, oh anymore

If we could only get out of our heads, out of our heads
And into our hearts
Children of Abraham lay down your fears, swallow your
tears and look to your heart

If we could only get out of our heads, out of our heads
And into our hearts
Children of Abraham lay down your fears, swallow your
tears and look to your heart

I had tagged along to see KT Tunstall open up for Sheryl Crow and expecting a mellow, ok kind of show BUT instead was pleasently surprised to see both of these talented ladies put on awesome performances with only a couple ‘pop ballads’ throughout the night – these women can rock live! Their voices sounded great and powerful and both know how to play guitar like nobody’s business.

While I enjoyed the familiar songs like ‘Other Side of the World’ from KT and ‘A Change Will Do You Good’ from Sheryl, it was the songs I had not heard before from each that surprised me like Sheryl Crow’s ‘Motivation’ that helped to keep me moving and warm through an otherwise very chilly night (ALL you weather people are SO FIRED!).

To sum up the night in two words – Absolute Awesome!

Note to Molson Amphitheatre people – you guys REALLY need to workout the parking issues – at $20 per car there is NO reason we should be stuck waiting over 30 minutes to LEAVE the lot and just idling away – pure bullshit, hire the staff and work it out! That alone would make me reconsider EVER seeing another show at this venue.

Subnote: Oddly enough, 2+6=8 – the power of eight continues yet again…

Seeing Melanie C, especially in a club venue, was absolutely amazing! She was a great sport and really embraced the crowd who brought in various home made props and even blew bubbles during a few of her songs. Such a great energy and her voice sounds amazing live – the hilarity was how open the Phoenix was in allowing everyone to film & take pictures and throughout the show all I saw was cameras, cell phones and even a couple video cameras! Argh! Curses for not bringing mine, but as my friend said the memory of the event is in my mind … and my heart *sigh*….

Here’s a great interview of Mel on The Hour that talks not only about her career but also her views on the music industry – she knows her stuff!:

 

Thursday, May 8 I’m going to catch Melanie C (yes, the former Sporty Spice Girl) live in Toronto at the Phoenix Concert Theatre [link]. The venue is a club (ie not seating) and tickets are still available for about $40 (after extra charges) – so why not come on down and join me? 

Since splitting from the Spice Girls in ‘99, she’s proven she has far more talent and diversity, with millions of album sales and multiple hit single later, her range of piano ballads to guitar-laden rock coupled with great song writing and an awesome voice – can all be described in one word, ‘brilliant!‘. Mel has quickly became another favourite in my music collection.

She’s touring in support of This Time, (though officially launching in North America last month, I’ve been listening to it since its UK debut last year) the 4th album from one of Britain’s most successful female performers – to find out more check our her official website.

This will be an awesome night! – the ‘power of eight‘ continues…