This I didn’t do a lot this weekend, I just chilled out for 4-days with Sara and took it easy. This morning was the first time I woke up on time and got to work at a reasonable hour in weeks. Clearly, the mini-vacation was good for me.

Here’s a brief round-up of what I did this weekend.

• Sara and I rented a couple of movies on Friday night: 30 Days of Night and The Host. We had planned on watching them both on Friday night, but a lengthy game of chess meant that we only ended up watching 30 Days of Night on Friday. I found it to be rather long and tedious, and not particularly frightening. The first few vampire scenes were nothing more than semi-gory slaughter scenes, and the rest of the movie was simply slow—there was no real tension or suspense during the supposedly scary moments. I also found the ending rather ridiculous, though I won’t spoil it in case you decide to watch the movie yourself.
• On Saturday, we went shopping for camping gear and other things that we’ll need for our upcoming road trip to Dawson City, YT. I had been wanting to get my own camping gear for a while now (other than a few things like a sleeping bag and a cooler, I’ve been borrowing my parents’ gear whenever I go camping…not exactly ideal if they or my brothers decide to go camping the same weekend that I do), so it was nice to go out and pick up a tent, a new sleeping bag (my old one is pretty threadbare and no longer keeps me warm), an axe and bow saw, and a small camp stove. It wasn’t fun dropping the money on those items but, all things considered, it was much cheaper than I thought it would be.
• Sara cooked an excellent dinner on Saturday night, as well, before we got around to watching The Host, which is apparently Korea’s all-time biggest box office success. The Host is a monster movie with a great mix of humour and horror. As is the case with most good monster movies, the main source of horror comes not so much from the monster itself, but from the human situations that develop around the monster attack. In the case of The Host, it’s essentially a story about a dysfunctional family coming together to rescue one of their own who has been taken by the monster. I definitely recommend you check it out. I’m sure that it will soon become a cult classic in North America, if it isn’t one already.
• Sunday afternoon and evening was spent with my family, as we celebrated my youngest brother’s birthday. He turned 14 (he claims 19, but what does he know?), so I made sure to tell him about some of the “awkward changes” he will soon start to experience.
• Monday was a busy day, starting with Sara and I going to Red Robin for lunch. The downtown location has a patio, so we sat out there to eat our meal. Unfortunately, for some reason, the tables don’t have umbrellas, so the scorching sun got to be a bit much toward the end of our meal.
• After Red Robin, we went down to the Works Festival and checked out the 3 works on display in the Stanley A. Milner Library. I have to say that Betty Kovacic’s “A Room Full of Missing Women” was a great installation, though it wasn’t quite as powerful as I had expected it to be. I still recommend that you check it out, along with the other works in the library’s gallery (on display until the end of the Works Festival on July 6, 2008).
• On Monday night, we went to see Wanted, which turned out to be much better than I expected. I had originally not been interested in seeing it, but heard a few positive reviews and so changed my mind. Though it was fairly predictable, and I wasn’t completely satisfied with the ending, I still think it was a great action movie, partly because it was completely ridiculous and over-the-top.
• Tuesday was Canada Day, so we headed down to the Legislature Grounds and enjoyed the sun and the wading pools for several hours before watching the fireworks display at the end of the night. After that, we walked home, and I was glad for the cool evening. It was the first night all week that I didn’t sleep with a fan on. In fact, it cooled down enough overnight that, at some point, I actually crawled under the sheets, which definitely contributed to last night being the best sleep I’ve had in weeks.

1. The Great Yukon Adventure: In just a few weeks, Sara and I will be driving from Edmonton to Dawson City, YT, and back. The plan is still pretty loose, but at least 2 things are sure: I will drink a Sour Toe Cocktail, and we will stop at the Signpost Forest (and possibly add a sign or two of our own). If you have any suggestions for this trip, please share them. Keep in mind, though, that we only have 9 days for a round-trip that already involves approximately 3 days worth of driving time.
2. The Big Stuff Tour: Aaron Braaten recently wrote a hilarious post called “What Must I Do to be Albertan?” In this post, he mentioned driving around the province to visit the various “World’s Biggest Stuff” in the province. Although Aaron’s post was written tongue-in-cheek (there’s a lot of truth in it, though), I honestly think that driving the Big Stuff Tour could be pretty fun. It would start with an obligitory visit to the stupid baseball bat at 118 Avenue and 97 Street (which is supposedly the world’s biggest, but I suspect the giant Louisville Slugger in Louisville, Kentucky is bigger). As ridiculous as that bat is, it’s part of the tour, so it must be visited. After that, we’d drive around the province over the course of a weekend or two and stop at each of the various locations. Anyone want to join in on this one?

Those are my big plans for the summer. What are your travel plans? Are you doing the Haunted Alberta tour? Do you plan to visit Smoky Lake during their annual Pumpkin Festival? Leave me a comment and let me know your plans.

Young People Fucking turned out to be a surprisingly charming and endearing comedy (romantic comedy?). It’s smart, funny, and a surprisingly accurate portrayal of modern sexual/romantic relationships. It’s a great Canadian film, one of the best I’ve seen in recent years, but I suspect that the title will keep a lot of people away.

In fact, the title is the weakest point about the movie. While I don’t have an alternate suggestion, I think the title was chosen mostly for shock value and, while it will get people talking about the movie, it’ll likely keep many of those same people from actually watching it.

It’s also not the most accurate title. I’ll leave the explanation of that point for you to discover yourself by watching the movie. Check it out.

I was bothered enough by what I’d heard that I emailed my Member of Parliament, the Prime Minister’s Office, and Minister Prentice. To my surprise, my emails actually garnered some responses.

The PM’s office basically told me that the PM doesn’t handle these matters, and that they would forward the email to the appropriate people. The email to my MP was first replied to by his assistant, but I later got a reply from the man himself. It basically said thanks for writing, I’ll forward your concerns to Minister Prentice.

Today, I got an email from Ministers Prentice and Verner, providing a brief summary of the proposed legislation. This is what the Ministers said in their email:

The Government of Canada has introduced Bill C-61, An Act to Amend the Copyright Act. The proposed legislation is a made-in-Canada approach that balances the needs of Canadian consumers and copyright owners, promoting culture, innovation and competition in the digital age.

What does Bill C-61 mean to Canadians?

Specifically, it includes measures that would:

• expressly allow you to record TV shows for later viewing; copy legally purchased music onto other devices, such as MP3 players or cell phones; make back-up copies of legally purchased books, newspapers, videocassettes and photographs onto devices you own; and limit the “statutory damages” a court could award for all private use copyright infringements;

• implement new rights and protections for copyright holders, tailored to the Internet, to encourage participation in the online economy, as well as stronger legal remedies to address Internet piracy;

• clarify the roles and responsibilities of Internet Service Providers related to the copyright content flowing over their network facilities; and

• provide photographers with the same rights as other creators.

What Bill C-61 does not do:

• it would not empower border agents to seize your iPod or laptop at border crossings, contrary to recent public speculation

What this Bill is not:

• it is not a mirror image of U.S. copyright laws. Our Bill is made-in-Canada with different exceptions for educators, consumers and others and brings us into line with more than 60 countries including Japan, France, Germany and Australia

Bill C-61 was introduced in the Commons on June 12, 2008 by Industry Minister Jim Prentice and Heritage Minister Josée Verner.

For more information, please visit the Copyright Reform Process website at www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/crp-prda.nsf/en/home

Thank you for sharing your views on this important matter.
The Honourable Jim Prentice, P.C., Q.C., M.P.
Minister of Industry

The Honourable Josée Verner, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women
and Official Languages and Minister for
La Francophonie

While I was pleased to get a response, reading that email doesn’t leave me much happier than I was before I read it, since it’s very vague and doesn’t actually explain much of anything. However, I was pleased to see that the Bill will not make it illegal for me to rip copies of CDs that I have legally paid for, so that I may transfer the songs to my mp3 player. I’m also glad to see that it will not grant border guards the power to seize & inspect portable devices at border crossings.

Beyond that, this email does little to convince me that this Bill is a good idea, and that it is as different from US laws as Minister Prentice would have us believe.

I’m hoping that this new reading series will bring out a new crowd of poets (and poetry appreciators) who may not have been present in the community prior to this point. Of course, I definitely hope to hear some familiar voices, as well.

The series doesn’t have an official name yet, other than “Spoken Word Open Mic Night,” so if you can come up with something better, please let me know.

In the meantime, come check it out on June 5th. Bring a poem if you’ve got one, or just sit and drink some tea while taking in the verse of others.

—–

[1] If you just show up on the night of the reading, you’ll probably still be able to get on the list, but the folks at Steeps have run an ad in both Vue Weekly and SEE Magazine, asking interested parties to email me to get on the list. So, if you email me, the odds your name making the list will be better than if you just show up.

16

I scanned the menu for the Bacon Mushroom Melt. I could not find it, so I asked the cashier, “Do you guys still have the Bacon Mushroom Melt?” He paused for a second, looking confused, before he said, “No.”

Well, fine, I wanted mushrooms, but I decided instead to go for the Spicy Baconator. I said to him, “OK, I guess I’ll have a Baconator then…the spicy one, I mean.”

“We don’t have that, either.”

“What do you mean? There’s a sign right there,” I said, pointing toward the big BACONATOR sign.

“We still have the regular one, just not the spicy.”

“Oh…I don’t really like the regular one. I only like the spicy one.”

“Spicy chicken?” he asked, trying to offer me a spicy alternative.

After a long pause, wherein I consider just leaving the place and going elsewhere, I decide to go for it. The spicy chicken sandwich used to be my sandwich of choice at Wendy’s, and it was even better than I remembered.

But, I was still a bit disappointed. I didn’t want chicken, I wanted a burger…a beefy, bacon-y burger. Alas, it was not to be. Wendy’s, you have disappointed me.

I plan to update Domestic Dog twice a week: once on Monday and once on Friday. So far, I’ve managed to stick to this schedule. Hopefully, with such a light schedule, I won’t find myself publishing as irregularly as I do on most of my other blogs.

So, check out Domestic Dog and, if you like what you see, maybe throw a link my way.

If you haven’t heard my first performance on Live at the Kasbar, from way back in February of 2007, you can listen to it by clicking here. As I’ve stated before, the piece is mis-titled on the podcast. It’s actually called “The Devil Drives a Grey Toyota,” not a blue one, but the colour of the car is completely insignificant in the context of the poem, so it’s a minor quibble.

- John le Carre

I am a big fan of the road trip. A road trip is a way to escape the hustle and bustle of daily life, and to experience an different sort of reality, with a different set of rules from those we are constrained by on a day-to-day basis.

I suppose I’m a bit of an odd duck in that I also think of the road trip as a somewhat spiritual experience. I am not religious, and I tend to toe the line between atheist and agnostic most of the time, but I do have a spiritual side, and I embrace it most fully when I’m on the road.

Being on the road, and travelling to places that are a bit alien to my regular experience often feels like a pilgrimage to me. This is truest when I am driving to the mountains, to Elk Island, or to other “wild” places.

Being in nature, to me, is one of the most spiritual experiences there is, so when I drive 4 hours to the Rockies, I sometimes feels as though I’m making pilgrimage to a holy place.

As the snow has mostly melted in Alberta, I’ve already made a few road trips. Some have been shorter than others, but nonetheless, I have been on the highway a few times already this season. Here is a list of places that I would like to take road trips to this spring and summer.

The ones that I’ve struck out are places that I’ve already visited this year (though, I will likely to return to many of these places throughout the year). I’ll try to keep updating this post and striking out the various locations as I visit them. I’ll also likely be adding locations throughout the year, as I think of new places that I want to visit.

• Jasper, AB
• Banff, AB
• Field, BC
• Calgary, AB
• Dawson City, YT
• Vulcan, AB
• St. Paul, AB
• Elk Island, AB
• Drumheller, AB

If you can think of any places that I should visit this year, please leave me a comment to let me know. However, keep in mind that most of these trips have to be weekend trips, because the Dawson City trip will use up most of my vacation days until the winter.

That said, if you suggest a trip that will take more than a weekend, but it seems really worthwhile, I’ll definitely try to either make the trip in future summers, or bank some enough overtime that I can take the trip this summer.

Finally, one more request: if you know of any places that I should stop off at on the way to or from Dawson City, please let me know. I want this trip to be a great and memorable experience, and I have 10 days to fill (approx. 1.5-2 of which will be filled with driving, if I were to simply to straight to and from Dawson). Let me know.