CARNIVAL!!!!

WOW WOW WOW!!! CARNIVAL BABY!!!

That show was awesome!!! So awesome I'm thinking of going to see it again tonight if I can get a ticket :P

The floor was shaking, everybody was dancing, and for the first time in 2008... I WAS WARM!!!

So here are some highlights from the show...

It opened with Wyclef on the piano, wearing his carnival mask.. then went on to a lil bit of Bush bashing "you don't care about the people in Irak, you only care about the oil" (if nothing else, the monkey in chief did inspire a lot of artist.. one good point for his stay at the White House :P).

The show was a family affair.. his ho-so-sexy cousin was on the drums and his ho-such-a-powerful-voice! sister was the chorist... That girl has soul, pun intended.

Before Sweetest Girl, he told this anecdote... true story (or so he says)... I hope it's true, cause it's just too cool :P

"Some 20 years ago, I was working at a Burger King. One day I was day dreaming and the boss came and started yelling at me "Wyclef, you're good for nothing, you can only flip burgers and that's what you're gonna do for the rest of your life, so stop fuckin around and flip those damn burgers". That night, I sat down and started writing... not long after Fugees was born and 3 years later sold millions of albums. A year after that I went back to the Burger King, in the drive-through, and asked to see the boss. When he said "what do you want to buy?" I said "Hey, this is Wyclef, I wanna buy your Burger King"."

At some point he climbed on the shoulders of a guy in the crowd and just kept on singing for a while...

Later he disappeared from the stage, only to pop on the balcony, in the middle of everybody. He stepped on the tiny ledge overlooking the dancefloor, and stood there (his bodyguard holding him by his pants so he would fall to his death 8 meters bellow :P) for a good 5 minutes, shouting singing dancing... he spotted an older man in the crowed so he went to say hello (the guy was 75!) then went back to the stage.. not using the stairs, but climbing the lights' and speakers' racks to the right... ho yeah, the man's in shape! :D

After climbing down from the balcony, he made his biker-looking bodyguard dance a wild tap dance... not sure why exactly maybe just so we could say that we saw a bearded, leather clad, 6'6" chap dance like a sissy :D

He stopped "Hips don't lie" halfway through to hold a Shakira contest... 10 girls from the crowd climbed on stage to try their luck (or hips :P). We judged by clapping or boo-ing them.. harsh but efficient.... he kept the 3 best dancers and started the song over.

Yele for the encore got the lighters up in the air, red and blue flags waving, and water in many eyes...

All in all, a freakin good show!!!

My favorite quote of the evening :
"outside it's cold and snowy, but inside it's so mothafuckin sunny!!!
so true :)

Linkin Park rules!!!

It had been a long time since I'd seen such a good show!
I hate the Bell Center, sound usually sucks, and the place is so vast that even when it's full it's feels empty.. it's great for a hockey game.... but shows? nah...

That's why I just can't believe how great Friday night was! Sound was ok, the crowd was on fire and the band rocked!!!

A bunch of hits one after the other, not too many of those new power ballads and people standing up for the whole thing!

I realized how much the definition of mainstream has changed over the last 10 years though... Linkin Park is labeled as nu-metal.. and their sound is not exactly easy-listening... 10 years ago, the majority of the people there would have been wearing black with long hair and tattoos. Last night the crowd was mostly average looking, there was even a couple of kids (like 8yo!) with accountant-looking mom or dad. :S

My jury's still out on whether it's a good or bad thing...

Only one critic to give... not to the band but to the crowd's attitude during Hands Held High. This song is so intense, the subject somewhat serious... it deserves a bit of respect. But since it's a slower one people kept talking during it.. maybe it's because most of them speak french and have no idea what the song is about... but it was just a reminder of how careless and flaky most people are....
That and the whole attitude for Coheed and Cambria... ok I must admit the sound sucked, but if you don't want to see them, go get beer and come back only for the main attraction... don't stay there and chat like nothing's going on :S

An abrupt start

I nearly died yesterday

I was going to the Linkin Park show, and was driving on the highway which was very snowy and slippery. I was about to take the exit for the Victoria brigde, when the truck in front of me, who was also taking the exit, started breaking like mad. He made a sharp right, and right there in front, was a car on its roof, and a guy standing next to it!

I tried breaking... no can do.. too slippery, I wasn't even slowing down! So at a speed of 80 km/h, I had the choice between smashing into a concrete divider (between highway and exit), an upside down car, a guy or the truck who had come to a stop, blocking the exit completely. None of those choices were options, so I turned the wheel like mad to the left, looked quickly if someone was coming on the highway, there was but in the second lane!, and miraculously drifted slowly on the ice and snow, missed the upside down car and concrete divider by mere inches, and got back on the highway, swaying like mad but still in one piece.

The SUV following me wasn't that lucky and smashed into the car... which means I would have been squashed between the two :S

Not exactly what I was wishing for when I said the weekend would kick ass.

Exceptional beings should be granted eternity

Madeleine Ranger
1915-2007
will live on forever

“to have been loved so deeply,
even though the person who loved us is gone,
will give us some protection forever"
-Dumbledore-

For Valentine's day, my thoughts go the woman who was Love. She cherished her husband for 71 years and was devoted to her children and grand-children.
Never in her life did she raise her voice. only compliments and encouragements would come out of her mouth. We were all the best for her, and she wished we would follow our dreams wherever it took us.

...Her only mistake was to pass this capacity to love so much onto me... the 21st century is not made for people who feel...

Love and human remains

I hate the idea of valenfuckintine day this year. This holiday has never brought me any joy, but this year especially, it really gets to me. The sight of even the tiniest red paper heart makes me want to kill/cry/scream/puke depending on my mood of the moment.

But it got me thinking.. well actually, I've been thinking about this for months now... let's say it got me writing...

The most depressing theory I've ever heard was in an episode of Sex and the City, the "taxi" theory. They were talking about men, but women are the same. It said that men are like taxis running with their light closed. They pick up women just for fun and drop them as easily, until one day their light goes up. The next woman who gets in is the one they'll keep... not because she is more special than the others before, but because they are now ready to settle down and be serious/buy a house/reproduce and her timing was right.
I didn't want to believe it, it's the saddest thing ever... but I look around and I have to admit it's true. I see it everywhere. There are some exceptions, but they are few.

It used to be that 2 people would meet, and would start going out, just because it clicked, and if it didn't work after a while, they'd break up and move on to the next adventure (ok not always that clean and easy.. but you get the point...) . People were not afraid to say they were in love... Even if the relationship only lasted 2-3 months, it was still true for that moment.
Now a guy will sleep regularly with a girl, hang out with her, spend hours talking with her, really "like" her.. but will refuse to call her his girlfriend, say he won't see other people (even if he hasn't been with anybody else for months) and will never use the dreaded "L" word!
Not only is the light not on.. but we're so afraid it might light up and we'd be stuck with that person that we won't commit to anything...
When did going out with someone become this huge burden no one is willing to carry?

So.... what the hell is wrong with the 25-35? Are honesty, trust, romance, devotion and the idea of true love completely outdated and uncool now?
Are we so focused on instant gratification and stimulation at any price that passion is the only acceptable thrill?

People of my generation see relationships as a consumer product. Disposable things not worth bothering with. If it's damaged or broken, it's easier to just get a new one instead of trying to repair the one we already have.
It doesn't even have to be damaged... when a new model comes along we switch, even though it's exactly the same as the one we had, just a different color and with sleeker lines. And that one too will be disposed of, when a newer version will arrive on the market.

I wish I could say down with love, fuck it and forget it... but I can't. I was raised to believe in it, I saw it in front of me all my life, with my parents, grand-parents, aunts and uncles...

so even though people my age are selfish thrill seekers,
and good people end up with assholes and vice versa,
and people who receive sweet attentions rarely appreciate or deserve it
and really good people are always singles
while jerks and bitches have lineups at their door
and that the more you treat guys like shit the more they run after you
and when you treat them right they walk all over you and treat you like a dirt rag

even though all this... fuck... I've seen the real thing in older generations, it has to exist in mine...

Where?

When will things even out and people of substance find each other?

The taxi theory

The most depressing theory I've ever heard was in an episode of Sex and the City, the "taxi" theory. It said that men are like taxis running with their light closed. They pick up women just for fun and drop them as easily, until one day their light goes up. The next woman who gets in is the one they'll keep... not because she is more special than the others before, but because they are now ready to settle down and be serious/buy a house/reproduce and her timing was right.

I didn't want to believe it, it's the saddest thing ever... but I look around and I have to admit it's true. I see it everywhere. There are some exceptions, but they are few...

more on that tomorrow...