It was twenty years ago today...

Okay, well it wasn't exactly 20 years ago today, but it was twenty years ago in May of 1993 when I first saw Paul McCartney in concert.

I was only 16 then and still a student at Westwood Collegiate, which was a jock school at the time, and not the performing arts school it would become, when I saw a member of my favourite music group of all time perform.

The Beatles were the first music group I ever got into.  I grew up in the 80s.  The popular music was pure crap and I hated it.  I really can't understand all these people who look back to the music of this decade and think of it as 'classic'.  Most of it is classic crap as far as I'm concerned.  I didn't like it then, and I don't like it even more now.

The only good music to come out of the 80s was rap and hip hop.  Thank you KRS-One and BDP for that.

It was new year's eve the year I was in grade 6.  I was at home with my brother playing cards.  The movie "A Hard Day's Night" came on and I've been hooked on their music ever since.

I've always wanted to meet Mic Jagger just so I can get him to admit that the Rolling Stones are so incredibly inferior to the Beatles in almost every respect.

I'll take Lennon/McCartney over Jagger and Richards any day.

Name one good Rolling Stones' album?  You can't can you.  The Stones were a singles band and lacked the musical intelligence to produce an album on par with a Sgt. Pepper's, a White Album, or an Abbey Road.

One Beatle can tour and it is a big deal.  I think if Keith Richards or Mic Jagger were to come to Winnipeg on their own, it wouldn't be that big of a deal.

One Beatle is more powerful than an entire Rolling Stones put together.

It's going to be the concert of the year and I'm really looking forward to it.

cheers,

rymr

What’s in a name: A Tribute to John Candy and S.C.T.V.

My favourite TV show growing up in the 1980s was an independently produced, syndicated Canadian show called S.C.T.V.  The show gave rise to many famous actors, but none were more talented than the late great, John Candy.

No other actor could play a slime ball better than Candy, and my all-time favourite character of his was Johnny La Rue.

La Rue was not the kind of person you would want to meet.  To put it bluntly, the character was sexist, egotistical, mean spirited, greedy, a bully, etc,etc,etc.  Because he was played by the charming John Candy, I could not stop laughing at all of his faults as a human being, which he so bravely bared to the rest of the world.

Candy was one of the most likeable actors I’ve ever seen perform, and this is why he could play such a horrible character, like Johnny La Rue, and still make him human.  I always wanted to root for him, even if I knew he didn’t want to do anything good.

One of my favourite bits that he did was called, Dining Avec La Rue.  Most of the time it was called Dining with La Rue, but in one episode La Rue went to a French restaurant and they changed the name.

Of course he doesn’t have a reservation so he tries to bribe his way in.  The waiter makes a big scene, but La Rue still gets his table.  He orders the cheapest bottle of wine and meal they have.  He ends up with a bottle of Thunderbird, and a cheeseburger and french fries.

Two women are sitting next to him and so of course he has to act a little bit sexist towards them.  After he asks them for a manage-a-trio, they throw bread at him.

He ends up not having enough money for the bill and so the waiter and another guy end up beating him. 

  

 It was classic John Candy.

cheers,

rymr

Bastian Schweinsteiger and German Football

This is a bonus entry this week for my fans in Germany. 

I am a very big sports fan.  Hockey is obviously my favouite sport, but coming in second has to be the great sport of soccer, or football as it is more commonly known in the rest of the world.

The first World Cup I ever closely watched was in 1994.  It was being held in the U.S.A. so it made it easier to watch the games as they were being held at reasonable hours.

The second big tournament I ever closely followed was the 1996 Euro.  I delighted in watching my favourite team, Germany, defeat England on penalties, behind the stellar goaltending of perhaps the greatest keeper in the history of the sport, Oliver Kahn.

I think one of the biggest mistakes in recent sports’ history was when Germany decided not to make Kahn their number one goalie as they hosted the 2006 World Cup.

Emerging as my favourite player in the years since Kahn retired from international duty, is Bastian Schweinsteiger.

My favourite computer game to play is FIFA.  I can’t imagine having a team without Schweinsteiger on it.

Before he was the attacking winger on the right side, and now he is the complete midfield player in the middle.  The way he has rounded out his game over the years has been very impressive.  He has gone from the young, rebellious player with the platinum blonde dyed hair, to the more responsible leader that he is.

After the last World Cup I have also become a big fan of Thomas Muller (sorry my keyboard doesn’t have that symbol).

Anyway, this year I have been following Bayern Munich and I am hoping they will pull off the treble.

Go Bayern Munich, and go Bastian Schweinsteiger!

cheers,

rymr

Gary Carter and my first Jets’ game at the MTS Centre

I started the day by sleeping in and missing my final day of work as a public high school teacher at Pyeongchon Industrial high school.

At the airport I made sure to buy my dad a carton of cigarettes after he got incredibly upset at me for not doing this for him during any of my previous visits.  The carton only cost twenty dollars.

I sat in the smoking lounge at the airport talking to an elderly Canadian couple from B.C. They were returning home from a trip to Thailand, and knew every trick in the book as far as smoking and traveling were concerned.

This was my last day as a cigarette smoker.  I’ve had a few since in Canada but I have not enjoyed a single one.  All they have done is given me a headache and left a bad taste in my mouth.

The flight went fairly easy.  After one stop over in Vancouver I landed at home in Winnipeg around 7 pm. 
  

I had left at 6 pm in Korea.

My friend was waiting for me at the airport.  He had our two tickets to the Jets’ game that night against the Boston Bruins.

We missed the first period but the score was still 0 – 0.  A few minutes into the second period Alexander Burmistrov scored a goal on a wicked wrist shot.  This was especially cool for me because I had a Burmistrov jersey waiting for me at home.  It was what I had wanted for Christmas the previous year, and so my Mom went out and got me one.  My brother got a Mark Scheifele jersey.

One of the biggest reasons I wanted a Burmistrov jersey was because he wore my all time favourite sports’ number: 8. 

Growing up I was a very big baseball fan.  The Montreal Expos were my favourite team and my favourite player was Gary Carter, who wore number 8.

Ever since then that has been my number of choice, whenever I play a sport.  It was my number when I played on the high school soccer team in 1994, and it was my number for all 4 seasons playing in the CBHK (Canadian Ball Hockey in Korea).

Earlier that day, as I was talking to my Mom on the phone I looked up at one of the televisions.  The news on it was very sad.

Gary Carter had died of brain cancer.  He was only 57 years old.

As I saw #8 for the Jets score that goal I couldn’t help but get a little choked up as I thought about my favourite professional athlete of all time.

The Jets won the game.  It was a long time coming.  The last time I had seen a Jets’ victory was in 1996 when they beat the Flyers in the last Jets’ game I ever saw at the old Winnipeg Arena.

Dale Hawerchuk was a player for the Flyers and I got to see Eric Lindros play.  Craig Janney made his debut for the Jets playing on a line with Dallas Drake and Keith Tkachuk.  They dominated and the Jets won.

I like it better when they win.

cheers,

rymr

ps: I had to add this link.  It's a moving tribute from the Montreal Candiens.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mzDqrxaxvM

Homophobia in Morris Manitoba

You’ll never change the world preaching to the converted.  I guess that’s what really makes me different.  I like to disagree and I like to get into heated arguments.  I never take anything personal or get huffy about other people’s opinions. (well, I try to at least).

In a recent article in one of the local papers, a man in Morris Manitoba was asked for his opinion about a restaurant that was closing in his hometown.

He responded with some homophobic comments which were printed, along with his photograph.

So many people were quick to point their collective angry finger at this man, but I wonder if this is the right kind of attitude.

First off, I don’t agree with anything he said, even if I believe that he had a right to say it.

I don’t see what the point in putting his picture in the paper was, other than to give that collective finger an angry sign post that they could point at and use as a symbol to vent their collective rage.

I think this is the opposite of what people should be doing.

If anything, this is the audience that the messages of tolerance and understanding should be sent towards.  These are the people that need to be reached out to.

You’ll never change the world preaching to the converted.  

I think the wrong attitude to have is the ‘be tolerant or else’ attitude, I see so often.

As Gandhi used to say, “I want to change their minds, not kill them for weaknesses we all possess.”

We need to understand where all of this hatred and anger comes from, instead of being really quick to just pass judgment and go looking for the first stone.

I don’t think anyone can truly say that they are one hundred percent without prejudice.  We all have our little issues and hang ups.  No one is perfect.

Yes it sucks when there are injustices in the world.  The first reaction to this is often purely physics.  We have been hit and so we must hit back.

Don’t hit back.  Try to reach out.  We’re all in this, every last one of us.  I don’t think it’s right to force people to try to be more tolerant.  You can’t legislate bullying.  Someone is always going to get picked on.

By hitting back, you only make things worse.

As Gandhi used to say, "An eye for an eye, only makes the whole world blind."

peace to all,

rymr

for further reading check this out:

 http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/gay-owners-sick-of-insults-200996541.html