Cmon, you all know those guys or guys like them…think of your school smoking area, or dank pool hall…they love the dank.

Anyways in AMAZING news, FUBAR 2 will be dropping in Ontario theaters in October…or as Terry and Deaner would say “Rocktober” or maybe “Cocktober”

Here is some info from their Facebook page:

It is time to once again “Turn up the good, turn down the suck,” as headbanger relics and lifelong friends Dean (Paul Spence) and Terry (Dave Lawrence) are re-united for more mullet mayhem in Fubar II. Director Michael Dowse has returned to the world of his 2002 instant cult hit to check in on the lives of this motley pair of metalheads in Alberta, only to find that Old Lady Responsibility is tugging on their ears and dragging them into the world of respectable employment and domesticity.

Following a celebration of Dean’s five years of being nut-cancer free, which turns into a fiery eviction party, the boys realize they’re weary of constantly trying to give’r while barely scraping by. When their old buddy and party leader, Tron (Andrew Sparacino), promises to hook them up with jobs on the pipelines in Fort McMurray, they jump into their ’86 Cutlass Supreme – the trunk precariously overloaded with a flat of Pilsner – and head to the Mac in search of sweet cash.

After donning hard hats and coveralls, the lads are soon rolling in dough and good times, but life in the Mac takes very different turns for the two pals. Flush with money and confidence, Terry meets Trish (Terra Hazelton), a local waitress, and things get serious in a hurry. Meanwhile, holding down a job, shotgunning beers and playing with his band “Night Seeker” begins to catch up with Dean.

Sounds like great fun.

Looks like TRON no longer funkin’ blows either:

Alright, based on the name and a first glimpse – this might not seem manly…but it is.  First off discount the adorable looks – if anything that is actually a bonus for us guys.  Imagine a cat loving female coming to your house and seeing the above cat sprawled out.  You are in!  It is like a man cat undercover.  It might look cute, but it is actually very large and muscular.  Male cats can range from 12 to a whopping 20 pounds.  There is a power house hidden by that fur.  These cats are also very docile and placid – guys like that.  I hate picking up a cat and having it attempt to claw the life out of me.  Ragdolls get their name from the tendency of their ancestors to just go limp when picked up.  Very convenient…OK and a bit adorable.  One last fun fact – there was once a myth they were pain resistant…how manly is that?

4. Pixie-Bob

And the award for least manly breed name goes to… The name might not be manly, but what could be more kickass then having a house cat that is bred to look like a bobcat!  In fact the original ancestors were rumoured to be a mix of bobcat and house cat.  Bad ass!  Watching this cat play would be like watching a bobcat hunt…sweet.  While not quite as big as the Ragdoll, the males have been know to reach around 18lbs.  To add to the manliness, these cats rarely “meow” they prefer the more guttural and wild “chirps” and “growls”.  They also partake in dog like pursuits like fetch.

3. Ocicat

Pretty cool name for a cat.  Sounds like a Bond villain. The first manly feature people will notice about this cat are it’s wild like markings.  The Ocicat is covered in spots that give it a pretty sweet look.  Another “manly” aspect is the fact these might be the most dog like cats.  Ocicats can easily be trained to fetch, walk on a leash and harness, come when called, speak, sit, lie down on command and a large array of other dog-related tricks.  Imagine blowing your friend’s minds with a cat that acts like a dog.  This is not the biggest cat on our list but males can still reach a respectable +14lbs.

2. Maine Coon Cat

Well first off this cat has a racist term in it’s name.  I don’t support the use of such terms, but you gotta be hard as hell to walk around with a racist slur in your name.  It’s like if you were in jail and saw a member of the Aryan nation with a swastika tattoo.  You certainly wouldn’t support the guy, but you’d also make a note – not to mess with him.  Same goes for the Maine Coon Cat.  What a colorful history too – although the breed has many folktales surrounding it, one of my favorite’s is this:  Some people claim the Maine Coon started out as a cat on the ship of a famous sailor (Capt. Charles Coon).  Every time the sailor would dock, the cats would hop off the boat and mate with the local females.  Hell yeah!   I had to include these cats because they can get quite massive!  Males can weigh anywhere between 15 and 25 pounds.  The Guiness Book of World Records, had one Maine Coon listed at 35 pounds.

1. Savannah Cat

Why is the Savannah Cat number one? Look at it!  That is awesome!  No other cat looks as wild as the Savannah cat.  This might be because they are directly descended from the wild Serval.  In fact the largest and most expensive Savannah cats (F1) actually have one parent who is full Serval.  Although they look wild, don’t fret – they are one of the friendliest and most social cats available.  Like the Ocicat they can be trained to do many dog tricks, can play fetch and walk on a leash.  Imagine walking a wild looking cat around on a leash…you’d be bad ass!  I guess it is a guy thing, but I like my cats big.  These cats are slim and tall but can still reach 15 pounds. F1 males have been known to reach 20lbs although it is rare.  While they don’t weigh as much as some breeds they are the tallest.  The tallest cat on record was a female Savannah that was over 17 inches from the floor to the top of her shoulder.  Men love sports and athletes right?  How is this for athletic, some Savannah’s have been know to jump a distance of eight feet from a standing position!  To further cement them as feline dogs, they love playing in water.  Since this is my number one most manliest cats I will also share a youtube video…check it out and fall in love. I like this video because it showcases the size of the cat (compared to child), the jumping ability and how it interacts with people.

I am not a vegan, I am not even a vegetarian.  I eat meat and probably too much of it.  You can see on my about page I am a meat eater, those are the eyes of a carnivore and the stature of a gourmand!

That said, I have a couple friends who are vegetarian, and I know one great couple who are Vegans.  They have been winning me over with Vegan desserts for ages.  I was definitely nervous about trying it out.  I didn”t want to hurt their feelings when I gag and spit it out…

First treat was Vegan Peanut Butter Cups.  They looked good, but I was nervous.  I tentatively took a bite and…I haven’t stopped eating them since.  I think it has been 173 consecutive days I have subsisted entirely on vegan peanut butter cups.  OK, that might be an exaggeration but they were great! Best I have had in my life actually.

That is peanut butter cups though – dark chocolate, sugar and peanut butter – easy to make it for Vegans!  Give me something that challenged you!

How about CHEESECAKE.  The next dish I tried was the KeyLime Cheesecake…WTF how can you have VEGAN cheesecake.  Well I dunno how she did it – but she did it! The BEST cheesecake I have ever had HANDS DOWN! And it was VEGAN!

Recently, all of these great desserts and many more were collected into an amazing cookbook: “Are You Sure That’s Vegan?”  I guarantee any time you make these dishes that is what you will hear people ask.  You don’t even have to be vegan to enjoy these – they taste as good as any traditional dessert I have ever had.

• Surprise your vegetarian and vegan friends with food they can enjoy too!
• Never worry about trying to find desserts that everyone can eat at your dinner parties and BBQs
• Great gift for vegan friends!

You can learn more, download free recipes and see pictures of all of the great desserts here (click book):

I know a lot of people visit my site directly through posts – and a lot never even see the homepage. Well I kept it simple on the homepage – basically just laying out links to my posts. I also added 3 unique features that I plan on updating every couple weeks (no set schedule or anything though). Anyways, said aspects are; The video, the music player and finally a quote.

This week’s/month’s/random time period’s video is G-Side: I’m Sorry. I have been one of the biggest G-Side supporters around.  They are an up and coming group out of Hunstville, Alabama.  They get great production and this song is no different.  S.T. (one member) is also a beast on the mic and one of my fav out right now. Make sure you give it a shot.

The music player has three songs (as usual):

Rick Ross feat. Jay-Z & John Legend – Free Mason: This is one of my favorite songs of the year so far.  A really great beat and Jay-Z drops one of his best verses in ages.  He addresses all the people out there who claim he is some high ranking Free Mason and satanist. “Bitch, I said I was a-mazing, not that I’m a Mason”

The Roots feat. Blu, Phonte and Patty Crash – The Day: One of the stand out tracks from the Roots latest album (which was great by the way).  I chose this one because it had Blu rapping on it and I love that dude.  Phonte also drops the singing to spit a verse, nice surprise. Patty Crash lends her unique voice to a super catchy hook and of course Black Thought kills it.

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings: I like mixing up my choices with one non rap song and this is it.  If you don’t know Sharon Jones you should!  She is bringing back that old soul sound and it is so authentic.  I often forget I’m listening to a contemporary artist when I hear her music.  Great throwback sound – and she can BLOW.  Great singing voice, very powerful.  I dare you to listen to this song and not enjoy it.  This is the type of song you BLAST after a break up.

I also changed the quote on the bottom of my page:

When the character of a man is not clear to you. Look at his friends.
-Japanese Proverb-

Saw this quote online and thought it was pretty interesting.  I also feel it is true.  I think you can get a good feel of someones character by looking at the company they keep.  It might not be 100% accurate, but it is a good barometer IMO.

You can check out the new additions HERE

How much time do you spend worrying? I am curious about the answer. I know it is impossible not to worry at all. We all have worries. I am talking specifically about things you can’t control. Of course you worry about your kids if they are sick. The problem is when you worry about things that you have no direct control over. The recent oil spill disaster is a perfect example. I can’t fix the problem, I can’t stop the oil – so why do I worry about it? I used to worry quite a bit about things like that and of course my worrying had no positive effect except to upset me and waste my time.

How much time can you waste worrying? Well I actually took the time to break it down. I estimated that I worried about three minutes per day. Not a huge number, and it didn’t effect me on a day to day basis. It did however often happen in the middle of tasks, so it was a bit annoying.

What does three minutes a day really cost you though? Can’t be much right? Is there a tangible reason people should worry less? Well in one week, it already adds up to 21 minutes. I can write an article in 21 minutes. I can write a blog post. I can do paying freelance work with that time. I can build 3-4 high quality backlinks to my websites. That is tangible evidence of what I am missing out on due to worrying.

What about 3 minutes a day for a month? That works out to about 90 minutes. A whole hour and a half. I could do a great work out in that time. I could walk my dogs. I could fix and eat lunch. I could even watch a movie. 90 minutes is 40 blog comments I could make. I could create dozens of backlinks.

Let’s kick it up to the next level…3 minutes a day for a year! That works out to 1095 minutes! That is more than 18 hours. I used to blow 18 hours a year just worrying about things that I can’t change. Imagine everything you could accomplish in 18 hours. If someone came up to you right now and magically granted you a free 18 hours – I am SURE you could think of some things to do.

The numbers just keep getting more ridiculous the longer time period you look at. There is no sense worrying about things that don’t directly effect you. Next time you find yourself worrying about something ask yourself what you can do about it. If you can do something, then by all means do it! Address your worry with action! If you can’t do anything about it though, let it go. Wasting your time worrying is not only unhealthy, it will literally steal hours away from you every year.

At one time in the world’s history story telling was integral to the survival of our earliest records.  Before the proliferation of the written word, great story tellers and bards were responsible for documenting history with all its great accomplishments and stunning defeats.  The times, they are a-changing.

Any major event these days is usually caught on film.  The average person can afford to document their family history with inexpensive equipment.  Online blogs have become the premiere story telling vehicles.  Facebook and twitter statuses, now document everything from the completely inane, to major political events.  In all of this “new” media, have people begun to lose their knack for story telling?

There are few things worse than being stuck listening to a story from someone who can’t tell it.  It is an exercise in complete frustration. People need to get better!  Avoiding a couple of common story telling mistakes can change you from a complete bore, into the life of the party.

To me, the three story telling sins are as follows:

1. Telling them too slowly: This is horrible. The worst part is once you are invested in listening to these people you know it is going to be a long story because they are telling it so slowly.  Their voice is monotone and they drag out each thought until you are ready to choke them. If you are telling a story – get to the point as quickly as possible while retaining all pertinent info.  At least pretend like your story is important and animate your speech a bit.  A little enthusiasm won’t kill you.

2. Tangents: This is the worst.  This will kill a story with a quickness.  If you are telling a story about some intense showdown you had with a mugger…stick to that.  A tangent about how you went out for ice cream, and they totally don’t have that one ice cream you love, which is weird because it is like ALWAYS there! Did I mention the cashier looked just like Webster?  It was uncanny, I was totally waiting for Mr. Kostoplous…Oh my god! What’s his name again?  What?  Yeah that’s it!  OMG I can’t believe I forgot that…OK where was I? At this point I don’t know anymore and I certainly don’t care.  I am silently praying to all that is holy, you forget yourself and this farce comes to an end now. I might even jump in with my own Webster story because the thought of hearing your inane babble any longer makes me sick to my stomach.  In conclusion…tangents are bad!

3. The Bad Story Warning: If anyone ever starts their story out with these words: “OK I suck at telling stories…” then RUN.  The fact is, if someone is saying that it is because their stories are bad.  People have let them know by either telling them or walking out of a room.  At one time in my life, I genuinely thought that I would punch someone square in the nose as soon as they said that.  I think any legal ramifications I incurred would have been off set by the time saved not listening to them prattle on.  I never acted on it but I thought about it.  Don’t set your self up for failure.  Be confident!

I am not claiming to be a great story teller.  I am not claiming that at all.   I am however, a fan of a great story.  I can say with 100% confidence that no story I have ever heard that was told too slowly, went off in tangents or was prefaced ay a bad story warning has been great.  They haven’t even been good.  In fact any story that matches all three of those criteria have been some of the worst moments in my history of social interaction.  If you suck at telling stories, and if you do you know it, your first step should be to eliminate the above “sins”.  Try it for your next story and let me know how it works out for you.  Just get to the point when you do!

Haha OK I don’t really feel like this guy is some hero who has to be freed, but I was pretty shocked when I heard he was caught.

For those of you who don’t know Colton Harris-Moore was a teenage criminal who had been evading Police for years.  He had been doing this by stealing boats and airplanes.  He learned how to steal airplanes from reading a book.  I don’t condone his behaviors – but that is impressive.  His latest act was to steal a plane from Indian and fly it to the Bahamas.  He was recently caught in the Bahamas after a high speed boat chase.  You can’t make this stuff up.

You can read more here:  Colton Harris-Moore

You can find merchandise here:  Free Colton Harris-Moore Shirt

Hey guess what?  The kids, they are alright.

As I get older I can not help hearing people bemoan “kids today” or society as a whole.  It is just the same nonsense people have been saying for ages.
The kids today are lazy, they have no respect, we didn’t talk like that, we didn’t act like that, pull up your pants, twist your hat around, blah blah blah.  It is hilarious to see the reasons why people dismiss kids these days.  It usually comes down to music, entertainment and fashion.  Those are all just reflections of personality, a personality that isn’t even finished developing.  You can’t draw conclusions on people’s capabilities based on that.

What amazes me is that people forget they heard the exact same thing when they were kids.  Older generations said the same things about us.  I remember it clearly – and I think we came out alright.  It is like some cycle of curmudgeonry.  Every generation needs to cry and whine about the generation that follows them. I think more people should remember how they felt when their elders painted all the youth in one broad stroke.  It wasn’t fair then and it isn’t fair now.  If you start your sentences with “Kids today…” you are being prejudicial and bigoted. You also aren’t helping anyone.  I guess some people just like to hear their own voice.

Things change , they progress and really that is what scares people. I think on a subconscious level people realize that progression and change mean they are growing older and towards the inevitable.  Scary thought, but don’t take that out on the youth.  Your generation had their chance, our generation had their chance, and tomorrow’s generation will have theirs.  None of us got it perfect, not even close, so who are we to judge?

I think people just need to stop worrying about societies collapse and worry about their own backyard.  Do the best job you can raising your kids, be a positive influence on the youth in your life.  Things have a way of working out if you don’t dump on people and raise them up.  Do you really want to give up on your kids?  Do you want to give up on your grandchildren?

Some people believe the energy you put out is the energy you get back.  If that is the case, let’s embrace the future. Let’s embrace change. Let’s give this future generation the chance we never had by believing in them.  Let’s focus on the positives and usher in the next generation with the belief that they can do better.  Who knows, maybe eventually someone will get it right.

]]> http://www.ted-payne.com/kids-alright/feed/ 0 http://www.ted-payne.com/toronto-g20-protest-reaction/ http://www.ted-payne.com/toronto-g20-protest-reaction/#comments Thu, 08 Jul 2010 17:49:04 +0000 admin http://www.ted-payne.com/?p=1068

Oh shit it’s about to get all political up in here.

I don’t broach this subject too often, I think politics are pretty personal.  I also know that my views are different than just about all my friends and most of my colleagues.  I don’t want to argue about politics, I already get too worked up about the Kobe vs LeBron debate.  I wanted to share my views on a certain situation though since I have seen so many facebook status updates about it.  The good ol’ G20.

I think everyone can agree it was a waste of money and Toronto as the host city was one of the dumbest moments in our Countries generally dumb recent history.  That said…I found a lot of peoples reaction to the protesters really worrisome.

I do not condone the violence or destruction that a small minority of protesters took up on the first day of the summit.  I am not here to defend morons.  What I find worrisome was the general population’s disdain for all protesters.  Weird.  From this point on I am not going to talk about the Black Bloc and the violent protesters – I hope they got their heads rattled off jail bars, and are prosecuted.  I don’t even care if the cops got some extra licks in on them.  I also have nothing against the police.  Just like the protesters I am sure there were bad seed police, but just like I will not cast aspersions upon all protesters, I have to do the same for the police.  for the most part they were just following orders any ways.

What I found crazy is that the police were arresting peaceful innocent protesters and even regular citizens on the second day.  Right away people are probably saying “Well why were they there?”  I can answer that two ways.  First, the peaceful protesters were there to get noticed.  it is a huge political event with world leaders, that is when people SHOULD be protesting.  And before you judge what they were protesting, remember there were a high number of different groups there protesting, and I am sure everyone could relate or agree with at least one of them.  That said big scale events will attract protesters because they need the exposure.  We live in a country where people can protest, so when they do shouldn’t be an issue if they do it peacefully (the vast majority did).  Secondly, the citizens were probably there because they LIVE there.  If I live downtown Toronto (and I did for a decade) I am not going to be confined in my house because of the G20.  If I need a bag of milk I am going to the store.  Sorry, but the idea of 20 world leaders circle jerking each other around a million dollar fake lake is not getting between me and  my miniwheats. Where does it say citizens, tax payers, home owners, renter, hell even transients can’t walk around Toronto due to the G20?  It doesn’t.  People who were blocks away from “the fence” were corralled by police for hours and then some detained.  These weren’t violent protesters, these were peaceful protesters and citizens!  If you don’t believe me, turn off Global TVs coverage and check out the user submitted videos that flooded social networks.  Hell, even half the broadcasters who were quick to show the destruction of the first day, couldn’t believe the police action the next day.

Which brings up my next point – the general disdain for any protesters.  People on Facebook with status updates about “finally Police are busting heads like they should” make me sick. Sorry fellas, but I live in Canada we are allowed to protest.  If you want to live in a country that doesn’t allow protest – feel free. I am sure you would be comfortable living in such free countries as mainland China and North Korea.  Just 2 countries that use force to break up protests.

I am surprised people have such a low opinion of protest in general…every single social change of all time has been sparked by protest.  Do you have a problem when black people protested the right to vote?  What about women?  How about laborists who protested for overtime wages, weekends and stat holidays?  Any interracial couples out there who would complain about civil rights protests?  Protest may seem meaningless to you but it has changed the complete scope of our lives. If you don’t have a problem with protests of the past (and how can you?), then why do you have a problem now?  Are we as a society done?  Have we finally reached our apex as a people?  Sweet racism, sexism, homophobia, war and poverty have all been eradicated!  I wish someone tweeted that so I knew!

That is pretty much the end of my rant.  To sum it all up: Peaceful protest needs to be protected and guaranteed.  The police overextended their powers the second day and I assume there will be some inquiry in to see who issued those commands.  He/She should be reprimanded.  If you have a problem with protest then you have a problem with social change.  That is indisputable because protest has been the driving force behind almost all of our positive social changes.  Next time you cheer on the police “busting heads” think about how you would feel if you were peacefully protesting something you believe in – and because some moron beside you threw a rock, you wake up in a holding cell.  Lets protect the people who take a stand, while we stand back and complain from the sidelines.

I know a lot of people visit my site directly through posts – and a Lot never even see the homepage. Well I kept it simple on the homepage – basically just laying out links to my posts. I also added 3 unique features that I plan on updating every couple weeks (no set schedule or anything though). Anyways, said aspects are; The video, the music player and finally a quote.

This week’s/month’s/random time period’s video is Big K.R.I.T – Hometown Hero.  A great song off of what I believe is the best album of the year so far.  It isn’t his newest work but I find it is a song that catches everyone’s attention when they hear it.  Definitely check it out.

The music player has three songs (as usual):

Drake – 9 AM Freestyle: Pretty typical Drake song here, but he really sounds great on this beat.  He also has some good bars on this – I actually added this to his Thank Me Later as the first track…really fits.

Raheem DeVaughn feat. Damien Marley – Revelations: Not the newest song but to me this is as good as anything off the Nas/Damian album.  yeah, I know the sample has been done a million times – but I love Raheem’s singing on it – so soulful.  Damien kills it to – great subject matter btw.

Lupe feat. Alicia Keyes – Love Letter To The Beat: Alicia been all about the rap hooks these days.  She kills this hook – one of the best parts of the song.  Lupe obviously kills this – he is one of the top 5 rappers alive no doubt and I don’t remember the last time he had a verse I didn’t like.  The beat is courtesy of Chad Hugo (from Neptunes) and I think he does a great job – kind of a throwback beat. I wasn’t sure about it at first – but it just works.

Finally I changed the quote on the bottom of my page:

An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools.
-Ernest Hemingway-

This has always been a pretty funny quote to me and it is from one of the best author’s ever which adds to it’s value IMO.  I wonder how true it was in Hemingway’s case?  I bet not far off the mark.

You can check out the new additions HERE